After you’ve done all the lobbying, it seems what you have to do in Australia to achieve LGBTIQ equality, is wait. MARRIAGE Equality will be legislated in Australia no sooner than 2019. I know many will fly into a rage about that assertion, but let’s get real for a few moments: the current Coalition will never independently instigate […]
Coming out in the cold: @burgewords reviews #Carol
January 21, 2016
The wait for enlightenment will be long, and the darkest, pre-dawn hour lies ahead. WITH nothing more complex than a series of firmly-closed doors, the film Carol takes a powerful dramatic turn that subtly gives two women the space to explore their attraction. When Therese (Rooney Mara) slips into the passenger seat beside Carol (Cate Blanchett) […]
#Homophobia for the holidays: @burgewords on creating #LGBT characters
December 21, 2015
It would surprise most people to see what a strong thread of prejudice runs through families. Spending time with family over Christmas and New Year can be a challenge for anyone, but journalist and author Michael Burge explains how his first collection of short stories grew in the fertile ground of familial homophobia. WHEN I began […]
#QuestionableDeeds in action: @burgewords in conversation with @margokingston1
September 26, 2015
WHEN I asked Margo to help me launch my non-fiction debut Questionable Deeds: Making a stand for equal love and my first collection of short stories Closet His, Closet Hers, Tony Abbott was still Prime Minister and marriage equality remained on the never never. When we met this week at Avid Reader bookshop in West End, Brisbane, […]
The making of a #MarriageEquality advocate: @burgewords extract
May 29, 2015
IRELAND’S yes vote for marriage equality kicked a rainbow-coloured goal for LGBTQI people around the globe, and while the major Australian political parties fight for ownership of the ball, this extract from an upcoming non-fiction podcast and book by MICHAEL BURGE is a reminder of how far we’ve come. Marriage, like a seed, was planted within me […]
Dancing around casual #homophobia: @burgewords comments on #WaitInTheCar #JazzHands
May 8, 2015
To many same-sex-attracted people, the stink of casual homophobia is unmistakable. ONE of the big stories of the week came and went as quickly as a Channel Nine dancer running screaming past the camera. Breaking late on Tuesday afternoon from the Fairfax stable, what became known as the French Ambassador incident trended at least twice on […]
The Aussie who loved and left us: @burgewords #CreatingWaves on Sumner Locke Elliott
September 28, 2014
Expats often get a bad name, perhaps because they heed the bogan’s call to ‘love’ or ‘leave’ our shores, but Elliott had the courage to do both. ALL this talk about progressive thinkers packing up and leaving Australia, if we don’t love what’s happening politically in our country, brings to mind the ones who actually went through […]
It’s too late for #MarriageEquality in Australia: @burgewords #CreatingWaves
September 7, 2014
IN April 2013 Guardian Australia journalist Gay Alcorn declared the culture war was over for marriage equality and confidently asserted that after “a year or two” LGBTQI couples would bask in the same connubial rights as straight Australians. She declared the debate “interminably dull” and credited lobby group Australian Marriage Equality’s (AME) latest pitch for support – […]
Thorpie did not have a Sweet Sixteen: @burgewords #CreatingWaves for @IanThorpe
July 14, 2014
I WASN’T going to write about Ian Thorpe’s coming out. What more can there be to say about this moment in his life, which has huge ramifications for him but should have none for us? But then I read one article which got me angry, the kind of piece I’d hoped to avoid but which I knew […]
Opera, give it to me straight: @burgewords #CreatingWaves on @Tamar_Iveri
June 23, 2014
Amid the ongoing flurry about Georgian opera singer Tamar Iveri and the comments she made in the social media about a protest march in Georgia on International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO) in May, 2013, there is an assumption the soprano is just one homophobic voice in an accepting international opera industry, an aberration who must be […]
