Hi there Lloyd.

Afer reading your post on Australia and how accepting it is for people who maybe gay, I am just wondering if there are any issues on homosexuality and the travelling community over there? Not as in tourists but gypsies? I am thinking of doing some research out there but need to first see if this is worth while. There isn't much literatue on this online and in library's in UK. If you could get back to me on this that would be much appreciated. Thanks John

OII Chairperson and OII USA director Hida Viloria’s letter to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asking for full intersex inclusion in White House LGBT initiatives

http://oiiaustralia.com/15981/oii-chairperson-oii-usa-director-hida-viloria-letter-us-secretary-state-hillary-clinton-intersex-inclusion-white-house-lgbt-equality-lgbti/

Intersex people - some 4% of the global population - remain amongst the most discriminated-against of all human beings. Intersex newborns are killed in parts of Africa and Asia.

Intersex babies whose genitalia do not closely resemble medicine’s ideal of the perfect male or female genitals are subjected to nonconsensual cosmetic surgery on their most intimate, private body parts.

Intersex people of all ages are denied fundamental human rights and have no protection against discrimination.

The motivation for these abuses? Homophobia. As with the rest of the LGBTI community, homophobia causes intersex people enormous suffering whether they are, in fact, attracted to their own apparent sex or not.

Hida Viloria of Organisation Intersex International - the world’s largest organization of intersex people - is appealing to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to fully and equally include intersex people in the State Department and White House’s global human rights work.

In an act of breathtaking hypocrisy the World Professional Association of Transgender Health (WPATH) has released pathologizing guidelines for the treatment of intersex children and adults who reject their birth assignments.

WPATH has for many years been considering the effects of pathologizing language on the mental health of trans individuals. The diagnosis of Gender Identity Disorder (GID) was considered especially unhelpful as it categorized their natural differences as a mental illness.

In an effort to move away from concepts that contributed to the problems rather than easing them WPATH has revised its Standards of Care (SOC) to include less pathologizing language and treatments that focus on medical needs rather than pathologizing and characterizing trans as a mental health problem.

With breathtaking arrogance and hypocrisy, WPATH then reclassifies intersex as people with Disorders of Sex Development (DSD) and see those of us who reject our birth assignments as being in need of the counsel of a mental health professional.

WPATH does this without the input or inclusion of a single intersex person. Indeed the WPATH membership requirements preclude being intersex as a reason for belonging to this organization.

Not only are intersex people excluded from membership of WPATH, we are pathologized without our contribution and without WPATH seeking any intersex input whatsoever.

WPATH would not formulate a Standards of Care for trans people without considerable trans inclusion and widespread trans consultation. That WPATH is prepared to do what they have done to intersex people shows the complete misunderstanding that trans professionals have in respect of intersex and their disregard for both our rights and for our wellbeing.

Gina Wilson
President, Organisation Intersex International Australia Limited
Sydney, Australia
oiiaustralia.com
oiiaustralia@bigpond.com
+61 (0)418 290 336

Also, sorry, I meant to add my email address for support. I live in Australia and will try to respond to all people for support. boogienights@mail.com. Please note: this is not a hoax, and I cannot send any money! It is simply for people who want to have correspondence with someone for support regarding issues with sexuality. Thanks, Lloyd

Hi I'm Lloyd, I am 27 and live in Queensland, Australia. Life is pretty good for gay people in Australia. Although it can be a fairly masculine culture, things are changing and we have hate laws and anti discrimination laws. I consider myself lucky. I am all too aware of what my gay brothers and sisters around the world face in too many countries. For this reason, I have been letter writing, campaigning and just had my first article printed in a magazine about the situation in Ghana. I believe the most powerful forces of homophobia are religion and misunderstanding. I salute those who stand up for their rights in the harshest of environments. I also send my best wishes and love to those that are persecuted. If you have access to the internet, hop on...it's a big world, and you will find out you are not alone! There is nothing wrong with you. There are forces against you. I hope things will change for the better for us one day. With love, Lloyd.

Introducing S/C Panorama and M/Y Falcon Summer 2011 (available in groups of 45-50 passengers / available in groups of 10 passengers)

The myth comes truth,
Live your myth in Greece and enjoy unforgettable vacations aboard your private yacht. Enjoy the freedom, flexibility, glamour and life style that a professional ‘private’ yacht has to offer and fulfill your expectations. Enjoy the life at sea, sailing, swimming, sunbathing, water sports, gastronomic flavors, island’s night life, with the combination of history and culture.

A world famous destination
Greece with its 4.500 islands amazing coastlines and quaint ports is ideal for small ship cruising, rather than for ships carrying hundreds of passengers. World famous destinations such as Mykonos and Santorini, well known islands such as Syros and colorful ports of call such as Kios, Ios and Sifnos are offering a wide variety of Hellenic Cyclades.

Proposed itinerary
Piraeus – Kea / Kea – Syros / Syros – Mykonos / Mykonos – Dilos – Paros / Paros – Ios / Ios – Santorini / Santorini – Sifnos / Sifnos – Piraeus

Our proposal
Our proposal is to exploit the magnificent Greek Island with the ultimate way: By chartering a unique sail cruiser for larger groups of 40-50 passengers, or a Falcon 100 feet class motor yacht for smaller groups of 10 passengers.

Finally
Our experienced crew always lager to deliver everything you desire, will provide high quality services tailored made to passenger’s needs, offered an upscale environment with safety.

Booking Details (open dates)
Yacht Cruiser Panorama (carries 40-50 passengers). Available only for groups of 45-50 passsengers / booking availibility: one (1) week on July from July 9, 2011 to July 14, 2011 and two (2) weeks on August from August 12, 2011 to August 25, 2011 / Cruising speed: 10 nautical miles per hour / Yacht cost per day: 12.000 € / Cost per passenger 300 € per day X 7 days for 2.100 €

Motor Yacht Falcon (carries 10 passengers). Available only for groups of 10 passengers / booking availibility: July, August, September 2011 / Cruising speed 25 nautical miles per hour / Yacht cost per week: 58.400 € / Cost per passenger 584 € per day X 7 days 4.088 €

For more information visit us at www.yachtingate.gr or sent your e-mail for booking details.

Thank you
The Yachting Gate Group

It is not currently legal for same sex partners to marry in Australia. One of the main differences between heterosexual marriage laws and domestic partnerships in Australia is that heterosexual marriage makes it much easier for a foreign partner to immigrate to the country, whereas a same sex partner can't marry and then immigrate. Instead, same sex partners must find other ways and usually are unable to work in the country for a full 3 years after moving there. The first year is required before an unmarried partner can even apply for a visa that would recognize what they call a "de facto" relationship, i.e., serious/long term/marriage equivalent. On the other hand, heterosexual couples can marry in an entirely different country and still move immediately to Australia so long as one of them is a citizen.

fags and dish lickers keep getting better jobs than they are qualified for because of winging to the gov,i am sick of these sodimites benefiting from my taxes and knowledge because as we all know they gag on a penis or lick a vegina and call it making love "i dont think so"MENTALLY ILL DOGS

I am a homosexual male, living in Australia. I have been fortunate to live in a country where I can be as open about my sexuality as I like. Reconcilling this with my faith, however, has not been easy. Not only do I consider myself gay, but also deeply religious. My Christian faith has been my strength in times of despair and worry, and I cannot imagine ever not believing. What breaks my heart is that less and less people are practicing their faith these days, or even HAVE faith. Is it really becoming that foreign or strange, or even corny, to believe in God and sing His praises in church every Sunday? Of course, practicing one's faith isn't just a once-a-week thing, it's an all-the-time thing. Making such a huge commitment is a scary thing, but I think it's one we all need to make. There are so many gay christians out there who are comfortable about practicing their faith. So go on... take that leap of faith today!

The Age of Consent in Australia is now the same for all people. It's sixteen (16)across the board. Please change the information on your site to reflect this.

OII Australia has completed it's incorporation . We now have an Australian Company Number (ACN) 143 506 594.

We welcome new members to our organisation. Full members must be Intersex. We have Associate members and organisation membership for those who are nopt Intersex but wish to support our push for full inclusion in Human Rights legeslation.

I wish to thank ILGA for that rarest of rare things - the inclusion of intersex people in its activities on behalf of equality and human rights.

It is wonderful to see that ILGA uses the inclusive acronym LGBTI (hopefully) throughout its website and in all its literature and communications.

Why am I being so full of praise for the simple inclusion of a group human beings whose prevalence in all parts of the world is between 1:60 to 1:100, and closer to 1:25 to 1:50 in some parts of the world?

Because outside of ILGA intersex people are habitually, routinely EXCLUDED from almost ALL efforts to achieve equality, human rights, protection against discrimination and vilification, and the right to patient-centred healthcare, EVEN WHEN WE SPECIFICALLY ASK TO BE INCLUDED.

Exclusion of intersex from reform efforts around the world is standard practice.

The use of the acronyms LGBT instead of LGBTI in the LGBTI media is standard practice even when including token intersex content.

The use of LGBT instead of LGBTI by global and national equality and human rights efforts and organizations is standard practice.

Every use of LGBT instead of LGBTI is a red flag waved in the face of intersex people telling us that "we do not want you" and "you are not good enough for us". In effect, intersex people are legally less-than-human, subhuman,

Exclusion of intersex from major law reform and legal bills on behalf of equality, human rights and even hate crimes acts is standard practice.

Intersex is excluded from the UK's Equality Bill.

Intersex is excluded from ENDA in the USA.

Intersex is excluded from the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act in the USA.

Intersex is excluded from the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers statement on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Intersex is excluded from IDAHO, the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia.

Intersex is excluded from the Human Rights Campaign in the USA.

Intersex is excluded from national health reforms.

Intersex is excluded from national censuses.

Intersex is excluded from the LGBT National Equality March and related organizations in the US.

Intersex exclusion is such a universally standard practice that we frequently use two related tags on the OII Australia website - "intersex exclusion" and "intersex-exclusive".

And that is just the merest tip of the iceberg.

Genital cutting is practiced against intersex newborns to make our genitals cosmetically resemble those of non-intersex newborns, without our permission, at enormous cost to our lives.

Genital cutting is also known as IGM - Intersex Genital Mutilation, as well as non-consensual experimental cosmetic genital surgery. These newborns are also sterilized and are required to take expensive, often hard-to-obtain HRT - hormone replacement therapy - for the rest of their lives or suffer potentially fatal ill health.

This persecution is a form of genocide and it is global.

And that, as I say, is just the merest tip of the iceberg.

Some relevant reading for you:

What is Intersex?
http://oiiaustralia.com/about/intersex/

On Genital Cutting
http://oiiaustralia.com/about/genital-cutting/

OII Petition to International Olympic Committe regarding Intersex Athletes
http://oiiaustralia.com/oii-petition-international-olympic-committe-intersex-athletes/

Medical “Normalisation” of Intersex Newborns… Why Not?
http://oiiaustralia.com/medical-normalisation-intersex-newborns/

Intersex Excluded from UK Equality Bill?
http://oiiaustralia.com/intersex-excluded-uk-equality-bill/

The Council of Europe Committee of Ministers Goes Out of Its Way to Exclude Intersex
http://oiiaustralia.com/council-europe-committee-ministers-exclude-intersex/

beyondblue’s Exclusion of LGBTI is a Disgrace
http://oiiaustralia.com/beyondblues-exclusion-lgbti-disgrace/

OII’s Objections to the APA DSM-V Committee’s Proposals on Intersex
http://oiiaustralia.com/wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post;=7446

Email by Chris Somers xxy of OII to Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2006, asking for intersex inclusion in the Census
http://oiiaustralia.com/email-chris-somers-xxy-oii-australian-bureau-statistics-2006-intersex-inclusion-census/

A high-ranking medical member of the Australian armed forces told me the other day that intersex people are excluded from service if it is believed that our medical status gets in the way of being able to serve. How that is determined seems to be fuzzy though. Many intersex people, just like many non-intersex people, need to take HRT for example. Is taking HRT grounds for exclusion from service?

I would love to have'intersex' be one of the choices in 'What does your lived experience relate to?' as well as some more that directly relate to intersex.

We've amended the site and the Australian page now tells about the unequal age of consent in Queensland. Thanks for this comment.

This is a happy story! I live in South Africa, In late 2006 SA became the 5th country in the world to allow gay marriage/civil unions by 2007 I married the love of my life & have been married happily ever since. This was a triumph & a justice for human rights.
I'm now in the process of immigrating to Australia with my life partner & we are both ready to stand up with the LGBTI of Australia! It's up to all of us to join hands in peace & dignity & aspire all human beings to LIVE & LET LIVE! Australia's leaders will hear the cry of the people especially when we all stand together as a proud nation. To all Australians you have my support & millions of others! stand united & never give up your fight to dignity, love & respect. Peace to all LGBTI!!!!!

My Lived experiance relates to Intersex.
Please change your selection box to Intersex . Intersex individuals are not Intersexual!
In your what does your experiance relate to you need to have an Intersex box if you wish to have your organisation include Intersex stories and be inclusive of Intersex.

I understand you are doing this with good intentions however these kind of omissions give the impression Intersex is inclusion is windowressing

Gina Wilson OII Australia