Flamingos Bar: Dear Pastor Muller

JULIAN PUNCH

I am writing as the State Coordinator of the Coming Out Proud Program which aims in Tasmania in partnership with Local Government to provide for strategies that will allow GLBTI people in the Region to ‘come out with pride’ and live in their community with dignity as fully respected and participating members. One of the major objectives of COPP is to ‘support the GLBTI Community create a climate where they are accepted and celebrated as full, contributing and proud members of the general community.

As a minority group the incidence of positive discrimination leading to exclusion is at a substantially higher level in the sexually and gender diverse community than in the mainstream of the Community. This leads to substantially higher rates of mental health issues including self harm and suicide for our people especially young sexual and gender diverse than in the rest of the community. I have provided attachments indicating this, one from a group of Catholic Bishops. I am sure your Church if understanding this would not want to act in a way that increased this pressure and

I would like to indicate that I have been a Catholic priest who worked in Tasmania for ten years after eight years of theological studies. As a priest and a socially concerned person I was also involved for over thirty years with homeless and unemployed people as well as many other disadvantaged sections of the community. My retirement from the Priesthood was in response to seeing an increasing number of young gay men suiciding in response to the over moralistic and man made dogmas of the Church. In my mind I could not justify or explain this cruel and unhealthy attitude of the hierarchy.

I am aware that you, on behalf of the congregation of Hobart City Church of Christ, may be considering an objection to an application to Hobart City Council by Flamingos Bar for a change of use at 201 Liverpool Street – the property that adjoins your church. I understand that you have a range of concerns about a nightclub for sexual & gender diverse people operating next to your church. However, from viewing the site yesterday with members of our executive and reading your statement , I believe those concerns to be unfounded as well as prejudiced.

My now involvement with the sexual and gender diverse community through the League of Gentlefellows and the Coming Out Proud Program is of creating social opportunities to help young and older people overcome their feeling of rejection and discrimination by conservative, unrelenting, and unforgiving sections of the Tasmanian Community. The League of Gentlefellows and COPP supports Flamingo’s as a very discreet and respectable venue and enterprise that provides a safe and decent social opportunity for a mixed group of people including people from the sexual & gender diverse community. My experience is that ‘gay’ people are far better behaved and less inclined to be anti social than the patrons of other bars. This is largely directed unfortunately from an experience of discrimination and violence when we become in any way visible within the community. Sexual & gender diverse people seek out and value an environment in which they can socialise free from the threat of discrimination, harassment or violence that they are likely to face in other venues or when they attract attention. The base prejudice of apposing a gay venue in the area seems most unreasonable when your Church is also surrounded by other licence bars, clubs and social venues including a ‘strip’ club one block away.

I believe your concerns are unwarranted and out of line with the vision of Tasmania as a socially inclusive community that acknowledges, respects and celebrates diversity. This new attitude of respect for equity and tolerance is underpinned in this State by a strong legislative base with the Anti-Discrimination Act 1999 and the development of social inclusion as an operating cultural principal that creates social cohesion for our State. While there are elements that vilify certain sections of the community most unreasonably as decadent and immoral this is no longer tolerated by law or opinion especially amongst young people. If you align yourself with this group your congregation will alienate young people who have a heightened sense of justice and equity.

I can only suggest that you seek an early process of conciliation with our community, the Flamingo’s proprietor and the Chinese doctor who intends to share the facility. This would be the Christian, most prudent and reasonable way to proceed if you are intent on a development dispute. Any dispute on the grounds that you have disputed will be most strongly apposed not only by the joint proprietors but also of necessity by the sexual & gender diverse community and it’s association’s.

I would personally be happy to meet with you and or your congregation to proved reassurance, commitment and a personal bond of ‘good faith’ that your grounds of resistance to the new proprietors are groundless and will alienate as well as creating unnecessary long term conflict and dissension in the Hobart Community as well as your Church.

Yours faithfully

Julian Punch AM
Coming Out Proud Program
Email julian@logtas.org

WEB www.comingoutproud.org