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 appy New Year!
Welcome to our first edition of GAMMA Connecting for 2010.
GAMMA is a voluntary group of dedicated men who identify as Gay or Bi-sexual and who are – or who have been – married or involved in a heterosexual relationship. We exist to provide peer support and education on relevant issues to men in this context. We hold meetings in the ACON building, Lower Ground Floor, 9 Commonwealth Street, Surry Hills, on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday evenings of each month, commencing at 7:45 PM. All are welcome.
At a recent meeting, one man living outside of Sydney and who is only
occasionally able to get to meetings, indicated that he appreciated receiving
the e–mailed GAMMA Connecting newsletters and updates. It
caused him to remember that there were others ‘out there’ who also shared
a similar journey and that he wasn’t alone. This man’s statement remained
with me as I pondered the many men who seek to live often with great
integrity with the many complexities that this journey involves. It can
feel isolating and lonely at times and I want to remind each man that
there is a community of men who understand something of the experience,
each from their own perspective, who are there to provide support and
companionship. There are a range of support people listed on our web
site; please contact us: www.gamma.org.au/support.html.
At our twice–monthly meetings, we have a range of professionals who speak on a broad range of issues. Our Web site is currently being updated with the meeting dates of speakers and topics as they become known. I encourage you to check it out and keep an eye out for any updates. We are always pleased to have any feedback on our meetings and suggestions to assist in making these evenings as valuable as possible. Remember that we have an e–mail at GAMMA, which is checked fairly regularly:
 ur first meeting for 2010 will be held on January 20th and our guest speaker for the evening is Bob Moore, facilitator and director of the Body Electric Workshops in Australia. Bob is a lovely guy and he will be coming to GAMMA to talk about his own experience of being a gay man who was once married (and is a father), as well as to talk about the Body Electric workshops for those who may be interested in attending.
For more than 20 years The Body Electric in Australia has been, and continues to be, a unique resource for men who are seeking to be more comfortable in their bodies and for those who are looking to connect on deeper levels with others. The workshops offer opportunities for exploring your path as an erotic and spiritual being. Men register for classes for a variety of reasons and the results are usually surprising and often extremely satisfying. Having personally attended several of these workshops I can attest to the richness and value of the experience.
The item below has further details about an upcoming workshop and some details about two information evenings that you may also wish to attend.
 he next Celebrating the Body Electric Workshop will be held at Karuna near Katoomba in the Blue Mountains from Friday, February 12th to Sunday, February 14th 2010.
Information Evenings
We will be conducting two information events in the lead up to this. The purpose of these events is to allow men who would like to know more about Body Electric to experience first hand some of the exercises used on the workshop, and to ask any questions they may have. It also gives them an opportunity to meet the staff who will be supporting them at the workshop event, and to hear from graduates of previous workshops about the benefits they gained from their own experience and the difference it has made in their lives.
First Information Evening
Venue:
Holdsworth Community Centre
Corner Holdsworth & Morrell Streets
Woollahra
Date and Time:
7:15 PM to 9:00 PM on Thursday, January 14th 2010
Second Information Evening
Venue:
Holdsworth Community Centre
Corner Holdsworth & Morrell Streets
Woollahra
Date and Time:
7:15 PM to 9:00 PM on Thursday, January 21st 2010
www.bodyelectricoz.org
 e are planning a GAMMA social evening by attending the play HARDCORE by Jonathan Hall, which is playing at the New Theatre, 542 King Street, Newtown on Saturday evening February 20th, commencing at 8:00 PM. Tickets are $22 plus booking fee. You are welcome to bring a friend along. We need your RSVP by COB Thursday January 14th as this is sure to sell out quickly. Please RSVP to Scott Middleton on 0414 804 711 or e–mail scottmidd1@yahoo.com.au ASAP.
Hardcore: Four guys trying to crack the bizarre world of gay porn discover that it’s not all sex and glamour and there’s a big difference between watching it and making it! Hardcore is a funny, painfully honest and enlightening look at just what leads the participants of pornography to commit the most intimate of acts to film.
For those who are able, we plan to meet beforehand at around 6:00 PM–6:30 PM for dinner at a local Thai restaurant.
 n 2009 a pilot study
called the Myriad Project was undertaken to look at health and
wellbeing issues for Gay and Bi-sexual
men. Following are some of the results from this study and what plans
are being undertaken for the full the study. A link to a follow-up short
on-line survey is also provided.
MYRIAD Men
Over 1,300 men took part in the survey. Ninety percent of participants described themselves as gay men. Just under half currently have a steady male partner. Two-thirds have sex with casual partners. Nine percent are HIV positive.
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In the last six months, 43% of men have had unprotected sex with a casual partner. And 12% of men have had a sexually transmissible infection in the last year.
Motivations
In the survey, we asked about men’s motivations to join a new study on sex, health and well-being. Over 80% are willing to take part and to be followed-up over time. Willingness to participate does not vary according to HIV status, or sexual behaviour.
In general, men with higher education levels, and those who identify as gay (compared to bi-sexual or heterosexual), said they are more likely to take part in the study when it begins. Willingness to join the study is higher in men who are more altruistic. Men who are concerned about privacy, or time commitments, or who expected monetary compensation, are more reluctant to take part.
The survey also asked about readiness to provide partially identifying information, such as dates of birth, and the first two letters of given names and surnames, which would be needed to for linkage to health registries. A substantial proportion of men were unsure whether they would be willing to provide these details or not.
Future
The investigators are now seeking funding for the full study through state and federal funding agencies. In the meantime we encourage you to take part in our new survey. The Barometer Survey is an online survey about HIV–related attitudes and experiences. It also includes questions on disclosure, sexual practices, community and friendship.
Anyone, regardless of HIV status, can complete the survey. Please take part in this important research which will help plan new policy and health promotion programs. The survey will take about 10 minutes to complete. You can access the survey at:
www.afao.org.au/barometer/
hilst on holidays I’ve been reading a book entitled Peter Kennedy – The man who threatened Rome. Peter Kennedy was the Catholic Priest that was sacked by the Archbishop for contravening aspects of Catholic Doctrine (particularly his support of same–sex attracted people) from his church, Saint Mary’s Catholic Church in South Brisbane, in February 2009. It contains a fascinating collection of personal accounts, stories, and essays around the subject. One chapter, ‘A Manifesto’ by John Shelby Spong, a priest and bishop in the Episcopal Church for over 45 years, I particularly enjoyed. I include a few sections from it:
“I have made a decision. I will no longer debate the issue of homosexuality in the church with anyone. I will no longer engage the biblical ignorance that emanates from so many right–wing Christians about how the Bible condemns homosexuality, as if that point of view still has any credibility. I will no longer discuss with them or listen to them tell me how homosexuality is ‘an abomination to God,’ about how homosexuality is a ‘chosen lifestyle’ or about how through prayer and ‘spiritual counselling’ homosexual personas can be ‘cured.’ Those arguments are no longer worthy of my time or energy. I will no longer dignify by listening to the thoughts of those who advocate ‘reparative therapy,’ as if homosexual persons are somehow broken and need to be repaired…
I will no longer take the time to refute the unlearned and undocumentable claims of certain world religious leaders who call homosexuality ‘deviant.’ I will no longer listen to that pious sentimentality that certain Christian leaders continue to employ, which suggests some version of that strange and overtly dishonest phrase that ‘we love the sinner but hate the sin.’ That statement is, I have concluded, nothing more than a self–serving lie designed to cover the fact that these people hate homosexual persons and fear homosexuality itself, but somehow know that hatred is incompatible with the Christ they claim to profess, so they adopt this face–saving and absolutely false statement. I will no longer temper my understanding of truth in order to pretend that I have even a tiny smidgen of respect for the appalling negativity that continues to emanate from religious circles where the church has for centuries conveniently perfumed its ongoing prejudices against blacks, Jews, women, and homosexual persons with what it assumes is ‘high–sounding, pious rhetoric.' The day for that mentality has quite simply come to an end for me. I will personally neither tolerate it nor listen to it any longer. The world has moved on, leaving these elements of the Christian Church that cannot adjust to a new knowledge or a new consciousness lost in a sea of their own irrelevance. They no longer talk to anyone but themselves. I will no longer seek to slow down the witness to inclusiveness by pretending that there is some middle ground between prejudice and oppression. There isn’t. Justice postponed is justice denied. That can be a resting place no longer for anyone…
I will no longer act as if the Papal office is to be respected if the present occupant of that office is either not willing or not able to inform and educate himself on public issues on which he dares to speak with embarrassing ineptitude… I make these statements because it is time to move on. The battle is over. The victory has been won. There is no reasonable doubt as to what the final outcome of this struggle will be. Homosexual people will be accepted equal, full human beings, who have a legitimate claim on every right that both church and society have to offer any of us…
A new consciousness has arisen. A decision has quite clearly been made. Inequality for gay and lesbian people is no longer a debatable issue in either church of state. Therefore, I will from this moment on refuse to dignify the continued public expression of ignorant prejudice by engaging it. I do not tolerate racism or sexism any longer. From this moment on, I will no longer tolerate our culture’s various forms of homophobia… I am ready now to claim the victory. I will from now on assume it and live into it… This is my manifesto and my creed.”
By travelling this journey, supporting one another and seeking to live our lives with integrity and courage – each of one us challenges societies and our own internalised homophobia. GAMMA is your group and exists for you. Together, we will ‘live into’ our own truth.
Look forward to seeing you at a meeting soon.
Regards,
Peter Kadwell
(President)
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