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Media Release: Aleph Melbourne welcomes Victorian Government protections against conversion practices

MEDIA RELEASE
FEBRUARY 7 2021
ALEPH MELBOURNE WELCOMES VICTORIAN GOVERNMENT PROTECTIONS AGAINST CONVERSION PRACTICES

Aleph Melbourne welcomes the passage of the Change or Suppression (Conversion) Practices Prohibition Bill 2020 and congratulates the Victorian Government for their unflinching support in this journey.

Many same-sex attracted and gender diverse Jews have been victims of disreputable people and organisations within and beyond the Jewish community who have performed destructive conversion practices, often with long-lasting negative or even fatal consequences.

This legislation sends a clear message that no longer is it acceptable or legal to tell someone they are broken because of their gender identity or sexual orientation and then attempt to make the person conform to an unnatural identity.

Knowing our state government, under the capable leadership of Premier Daniel Andrews, has taken this issue seriously proves it cares about the well-being of people with diverse sexual and gender identities.

Victoria has set a high bar on this important issue, and we hope that other states around Australia are motivated to tighten their laws similarly.

We acknowledge the tireless dedication of the Brave Network, SOGICE Survivors, Jewish Care, the Jewish Community Council of Victoria, Just Equal and Equality Australia, together with the many individuals and networks who have helped in bringing about this visionary change.

END

CONTACT
Michael Barnett – Co-convenor
0417-595-541
michael@aleph.org.au

Aleph Melbourne disgusted by Australia Day 2021 honour awarded to Margaret Court

The Council for the Order of Australia should hang its collective head in shame for honouring Margaret Court, a purveyor of bigotry.

MEDIA RELEASE
JANUARY 26 2021
ALEPH MELBOURNE DISGUSTED BY
AUSTRALIA DAY HONOUR AWARDED TO MARGARET COURT

The Australia Day 2021 Honour bestowed to Margaret Court “for eminent service to tennis as an internationally acclaimed player and record-holding grand slam champion, and as a mentor of young sportspersons” flies in the face of good taste and decency.

As an organisation representing Jewish LGBTIQ+ people we have been doubly impacted by Margaret Court’s incessant demonisation, with her comparison of the work done to protect LGBTIQ+ children to what Adolf Hitler did, and her rabid transphobia and homophobia.

Margaret Court may be capable when it comes to mentoring in tennis, but as a community leader she is a danger to impressionable young people by telling those who are LGBTIQ+ that they are the work of the devil and making them feel bad about themselves.

The Council for the Order of Australia should hang its collective head in shame for honouring a purveyor of bigotry.

END.

Contact
Michael Barnett – Co-convenor
contact@aleph.org.au
0417-595-541

Queer Sessions @ JIFF 2021

Jewish International Film Festival 2021
February 17 – March 24, 2021

Minyan

USA, 118 mins, dir. Eric Steel (English & Hebrew w/ English subtitles)

A young Russian Jewish immigrant in Brighton Beach, caught up in the tight constraints of his community, develops a close friendship with his grandfather’s new neighbours, two elderly closeted gay men who open his imagination to the possibilities of love and the realities of loss — and explores the East Village where he finds a world teeming with the energy of youth, desire and risk. Set in the late 1980s, as AIDS hammered New York City, Minyan is a powerful story of rebellion and self-discovery, sexual and spiritual awakening — and survival.

Shiva Baby

USA, 77 mins, dir. Emma Seligman (English)

The last person Danielle expects to run into at a family shiva is her sugar daddy Max, whose apartment she was coming from. Avoiding him – and his beautiful wife and baby – is impossible, as is keeping her nagging parents, prying family friends and angry ex-girlfriend Maya away. This sharp-witted dark comedy from first-time feature writer/director Emma Seligman is a quirky yet sensitive exploration of the pressure young people face today.

Forum: Change and Suppression Practices in the Jewish Community

UPCOMING EVENT

Forum: Change and Suppression Practices in the Jewish Community

A forum for our community to learn about the LGBTQA+ Change and Suppression (Conversion) Practices Bill that is before Victorian parliament.
Date And Time:Wed, 20 January 2021
5:30 PM – 7:00 PM AEDT

About this Event

Jewish Care invites you to a unique community forum to discuss LGBTQA+ conversion practices (sometimes called ‘conversion therapy’) and the current Change and Suppression (Conversion) Practices Prohibition Bill.

The forum is being co-hosted with the Brave Network, a survivor support and advocacy group, and SOGICE Survivors, a national advocacy and research group, and supported by Courage to Care, a national upstander education initiative of B’nai B’rith. The forum will provide our community an opportunity to learn about conversion practices, hear global and local research about prevalence and harm, and the journey that led to the development of the Victorian bill. It will outline the contents of the bill, but more importantly how the community can show support to both survivors of conversion practices and this bill being passed into law.

The event’s panel will include:

  • Rabbi Gersh Lazarow (he/him), Temple Beth Israel
  • Samuel Murray (he/they), Jewish Care Executive and LGBTI+ Liaison Officer
  • Patrick McIvor (he/him), Brave Network
  • Nathan Despott (he/they), Brave Network and SOGICE Survivors
  • Nicola Kolb (she/her), community member and survivor ally
  • Jarod Rhine-Davis (he/him), 2020 B’nai B’rith Changemaker Leadership Award recipient
  • Leah Boulton (she/her), Founder and Executive Officer, Pathways Melbourne. www.pathwaysmelbourne.org
  • Dr Gávi Ansara (he/him), Clinical Psychotherapist, Clinical Family Therapist, and founder of Rosh Pinah, An Affirming Orthodox Jewish Network

REGISTER NOW

 Once you register, you will receive a confirmation email.

The Zoom link for the event will be sent shortly before the event.

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Global Interfaith Commission on LGBT+ Lives

Join us in calling for an end to violence and criminalisation against LGBT+ people and for a global ban on conversion therapy.
We recognise that certain religious teachings have, throughout the ages, been misused to cause deep pain and offense to those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex.
This must change.
That is why we have launched the Global Interfaith Commission on LGBT+ Lives, which aims to provide a strong and authoritative voice from religious leaders across the global faith community who wish to affirm and celebrate the dignity of all, independent of a person’s sexuality, gender expression and gender identity.

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Multicultural voices in support of the Change or Suppression (Conversion) Practices Prohibition Bill 2020

Multicultural voices in support of the Change or Suppression (Conversion) Practices Prohibition Bill 2020

Wednesday 9 December 2020

Download the letter

Various multi-faith, multicultural LGBTQ+ and allied voices have written an open letter in support of the Change or Suppression (Conversion) Practices Prohibition Bill 2020 currently before the Victorian Parliament.

The letter is signed by:

  • Ghassan Kassisieh, Legal Director, Equality Australia and author of the ‘We’re Family Too’ report
  • Dr Judy Tang, Victorian Multicultural Commissioner and ex-President of Australian LGBTIQ+ Multicultural Council
  • Dr Maria Pallotta-Chiarolli, Research lead and founding member of Australian LGBTIQ+ Multicultural Council (AGMC); Gender & Sexuality Studies, Deakin University
  • Cedric Yin-Cheng, Chief Executive Officer, Australia & New Zealand Tongzhi Rainbow Alliance Inc (ANTRA)
  • Abanob Saad, Conversion Practice Survivor and Founder, Queer Middle-Eastern and African Christians in Australia (QMEACA)
  • Benjamin Oh and Molina Asthana, Co-Convenors, Asian Australian Alliance (AAA)
  • Budi Sudarto, Director, Ananda Training & Consultancy and Member of Queer Muslims in Australia
  • Ken Dumandan, President, Acceptance Melbourne LGBTIQ+ Catholics
  • Dr Reem Sweid, Founder and former President of Muslim Collective; Faculty Member, Alfred Deakin Research Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University
  • Nathan Despott, Brave Network
  • Michael Barnett, Co-convenor, Aleph Melbourne
  • Bhante Akāliko Bhikkhu, Rainbodhi LGBTQIA+ Buddhist Community


Media contact
Paige Burton
Equality Australia
paige.burton@equalityaustralia.org.au
0418 432 030

20201207-Letter-to-Victorian-MPs-re-Multicultural-Multifaith-People-in-Support-of-Conversion-Bill

Correcting the record

Whilst grateful for the Jewish Community Council of Victoria’s sincere apology to Aleph Melbourne in 2019, the apology was not exactly for “[Aleph’s] 1999 exclusion from the JCCV” as stated here by outgoing President Jennifer Huppert:

Oboler takes the reins from Jennifer Huppert, who served two three-year terms. The lawyer and former Labor MLC told The AJN the JCCV’s role in the Victorian Jewish Community Bushfire Relief Appeal and in the Jewish Community COVID Taskforce were key developments on her watch, as was obtaining funding for communal security. Bringing in LGBTIQ group Keshet and the apology to gay-rights group Aleph for its 1999 exclusion from the JCCV were milestones. She noted, “Gen17 showed that Jewish people identify in many different ways.”

“Andre Oboler takes the JCCV reins” | AJN (Nov 19 2020)

The exact wording of the JCCV apology, as taken from the Motion to JCCV Plenum – April 2019, is:

Accordingly, this Plenum now apologises unconditionally to all members of our community who were impacted by the rejection of the membership application and for the unacceptable homophobic views expressed during the debate.

We apologise for the deep offence and humiliation caused by the hateful words spoken in the course of the debate.

We apologise for the subsequent distress, further marginalisation and stigmatisation caused by the rejection of Aleph Melbourne’s membership application.