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	<title>Engayment.org &#187; Human Rights</title>
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	<description>It's not the same</description>
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		<title>Humanrights.gov.au &#8211; Response</title>
		<link>http://www.engayment.org/received/negativeresponse/humanrightsgovau-response/</link>
		<comments>http://www.engayment.org/received/negativeresponse/humanrightsgovau-response/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 11 Dec 2008 01:08:23 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Andrew</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Negative Response]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Received]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Discrimination]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Human Rights]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tanya Plibersek]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.engayment.org/?p=87</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[They are fast!
This is a response to a complaint I lodged with www.humanrights.gov.au -
You can view my initial complaint here
Karen from www.humanrights.gov.au responded, quickly I might add.
Sadly her response is a palm off. Not her fault, but still&#8230;
Here it is:

Dear Andrew
 
The laws we administer only allow us to deal with complaints on the basis of [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h3>They are fast!</h3>
<div style="background-color:#BCD1DC; color:#333; ">This is a response to a complaint I lodged with www.humanrights.gov.au -<br />
<a href="http://www.engayment.org/sent/homophobic-telstra-advertisement/"><strong>You can view my initial complaint here</strong></a></div>
<p>Karen from <a href="http://www.humanrights.gov.au" target="_blank">www.humanrights.gov.au</a> responded, quickly I might add.<br />
Sadly her response is a palm off. Not her fault, but still&#8230;<br />
Here it is:</p>
<div style="background-color:#fff;border:1px solid #666;">
<blockquote><p>Dear Andrew</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The laws we administer only allow us to deal with complaints on the basis of sexual preference in the area of employment. Unfortunately we cant just change our laws to expand their coverage as that is a matter for parliament. We are unable to deal with your complaint because it is not within our jurisdiction to accept complaints not covered by our laws.</p>
<p>If you wish to complain about advertising you may wish to contact the Australian Communications and Media Authority who handle complaints about advertising. The contact details for ACMA are available on its website at <a href="http://www.acma.gov.au/" target="_blank">www.acma.gov.au</a>.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Karen Toohey</p>
<p>Director, Complaint Handling Section<br />
Australian Human Rights Commission<br />
Level 8 Piccadilly Tower, 133 Castlereagh St, Sydney NSW 2000<br />
GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 2001<br />
T +61 2 9284 9746   F +61 2 9284 9689<br />
E <a href="mailto:karen.toohey@humanrights.gov.au">karen.toohey@humanrights.gov.au</a>   W <a href="http://www.humanrights.gov.au/" target="_blank">www.humanrights.gov.au</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.humanrights.gov.au/" target="_blank"><br />
</a>Human rights: everyone, everywhere, everyday</p></blockquote>
</div>
<p>My favourite part is the quote at the end: &#8220;Human rights: everyone,  everywhere, everyday&#8221;<br />
Well, no so much <em>Everyone </em>Karen. Maybe you should update your quote to be:<br />
<strong>Human Rights: <span style="text-decoration: line-through;">Everyone</span>, Everyone except Gay People, Everywhere, Everday.</strong></p>
<p>So, <a href="http://www.alp.org.au/people/plibersek_tanya.php" target="_blank">Tanya Plibersek </a>who <a href="http://www.engayment.org/rant/tanya-plibersek/" target="_self">told me that the Rudd government has wiped clean all of the human rights discrepancies</a> was either not telling me the truth, or she was wrong.</p>
<p>Time to send her a letter.</p>
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		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Homophobic Telstra Advertisement</title>
		<link>http://www.engayment.org/sent/homophobic-telstra-advertisement/</link>
		<comments>http://www.engayment.org/sent/homophobic-telstra-advertisement/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 11 Dec 2008 00:24:27 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Andrew</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Sent]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Advertisement]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Complaint]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Discrimination]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Human Rights]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Telstra]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.engayment.org/?p=58</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The Government won&#8217;t assist us.
I woke up this morning and logged in to www.smh.com.au to read the news. Telstra pays a fortune to advertise on fairfax, and in their most recent campaign for Next Gen Mobile coverage they try to be funny in a homophobic and utterly stupid way.
Here is the ad (click the speaker [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h3>The Government won&#8217;t assist us.</h3>
<p><span style="font-weight: normal;">I woke up this morning and logged in to <a href="http://www.smh.com.au" target="_blank">www.smh.com.au</a> to read the news. Telstra pays a fortune to advertise on fairfax, and in their most recent campaign for Next Gen Mobile coverage they try to be funny in a homophobic and utterly stupid way.</span></p>
<p>Here is the ad (click the speaker to enable sound, although I don&#8217;t recommend it)</p>
<div style="text-align:center;"><object width="300" height="240" data="http://www.engayment.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/telstra.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"><param name="src" value="http://www.engayment.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/telstra.swf" /></object></div>
<p>It shows people in tents at night in a camping ground. One of the men in the tent looks at his phone and then asks his tent mate &#8216;Gibbo&#8217; what he&#8217;s doing. He replies and says he is doing nothing. The first man asks Gibbo what Barry is doing, and Gibbo says he does not know. We see an empty tent. Inside it, Barry is no where to be found. We then see another tent with shadows moving inside it in a way that suggests more than one person is inside it. We then see inside the tent that has two people moving around, and two men look up as though they have been caught doing something untoward. They look very worried they have been caught doing something their friends would dislike.  It then turns out they are watching football on a mobile phone.</p>
<p>This ad implies that Barry is gay, and he has been caught having homosexual sex in a tent. Gay men who do choose to have sex in a tent should not have to be afraid of getting &#8216;caught&#8217; by their friends. The ad implies that being gay, or having homosexual sex is something to be ashamed of. The look on Barry&#8217;s face and his friends face when they realise they have been caught is the reason we assume they are gay. They are scared, and ashamed. This was the intention of the advertiser. The audience see&#8217;s that they are scared and ashamed and is led to believe they have been having sex with each other, the audience is then supposed to be relieved when they realise Barry is not in fact having gay sex with his friend, but instead they are watching football on their mobile phone together. The men and their reputations are saved. This is blatantly homophobic and very offensive.</p>
<p>So I went to <a href="http://www.humanrights.gov.au" target="_blank">www.humanrights.gov.au</a> to make a discrimination complaint. But it turns out that the Australian Federal Government Department tasked with eradicating discrimination, is itself, <strong>discriminating against gay people</strong>.</p>
<p>They only deal with sexual preference discrimination if it is to do with some kind of employment issue. If you&#8217;re being discriminated against by a company who offers a service, or by any other organisation, they will not assist you. Your complaint is void. Here is the options you get to choose from:</p>
<p><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-60" title="HumanRights.gov.au" src="http://www.engayment.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/humanrightmyarse.gif" alt="HumanRights.gov.au" width="492" height="281" /></p>
<p>As you can see, pregnancy, marital status, race, disability, age, sex, gender are all issues that you can make a complaint about. But if it is sexual preference, you are on your own.</p>
<p>So I decided to lodge a complaint with humanrights.gov.au about humanrights.gov.au.</p>
<p>Here is a copy of my lodged complaint:</p>
<div style="background-color:#fff;border:1px solid #ccc;">
<blockquote><p><strong> PART 1 &#8211; COMPLAINANT</strong>:  Andrew James<br />
Complainant&#8217;s Suburb:  Glebe<br />
Complainant&#8217;s Postcode:  2037<br />
Complainant&#8217;s State:  NSW<br />
Complainant&#8217;s Email Address:  andrew@engayment.org<br />
____________________________________________<br />
<strong> PART 2 &#8211; RESPONDENT&#8217;S NAME</strong>:  HREOC<br />
____________________________________________<br />
<strong> RELATIONSHIP TO RESPONDENT?:</strong> The relationship to me is this is an Australian Government Department.<br />
____________________________________________</p>
<p><strong>PART 3 &#8211; REASON FOR COMPLAINT</strong>:  My human rights have been breached by a federal government agency<br />
____________________________________________</p>
<p><strong>DATE OF EVENTS BEING COMPLAINED ABOUT</strong>:  Today, the 11th of December 2008.<br />
____________________________________________</p>
<p><strong>DESCRIPTION </strong>Description of the event?:  I came to this site to make a complaint about a homophobic Telstra Advertisement, when I noticed Part 3 of your complaint form states that discrimination complaints based on sexual preference can only be made if it is to do with employment.</p>
<p>This is not acceptable. Sexual Preference discrimination complaints should be able to be addressed regardless of whether they are to do with employment or not.</p>
<p>____________________________________________</p>
<p><strong>PART 4 &#8211; LOSS OR HARM EXPERIENCED?: </strong>You&#8217;re the one place that should stand up for my rights and my equality, and your own website is discriminatory in nature.<br />
____________________________________________</p>
<p><strong>PART 5 &#8211; DESIRED OUTCOMES/ RESOLUTION?:</strong> I want you to update your policies and your website to reflect that Sexual Preference Discrimination complaints can be addressed by your department even if they are not to do with Employment.</p></blockquote>
</div>
<p>We will see what they say.</p>
<div style="background-color:#BCD1DC; color:#333333;"><strong> Update 12:09pm 11 December 2008:</strong> Karen from www.humanrights.gov.au responded to my complaint &#8211; <a title="Response to Complaint from www.humanrights.gov.au" href="http://www.engayment.org/received/negativeresponse/humanrightsgovau-response/"><strong>view it here</strong></a><strong>.</strong></div>
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		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
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