Notes: Wednesday, August 24-Monday, September 5, 2011 (part 1 of 2)

1. On the Department of Defence's Understanding Transitioning Gender in the Workplace document

One of The Weekend Australian's recent columns (warning: The column's name is blasphemous, and there is a picture of a bra at the top of its web-page) featured an amusing excerpt from a recent publication by Australia's Department of Defence. Here are some other points of interest from that document:

• In the course of their duties, commanders and managers may not encounter any Defence people who wish to transition gender. It is important however that commanders and managers are aware of their obligations and responsibilities with regard to the support and management of people who are transitioning gender.
  [p. 3]

• It is also important to use the correct pronouns such as ‘she’ or ‘her’ in the case of a male transitioning to a female or ‘he’ or ‘him’ in the case of a female transitioning to a male. ... The continued deliberate use of pronouns and names relating to the previous gender identity will be construed as sexual harassment.
  [p. 7]

• Should the situation arise where open communal same sex showers are the only showers available (i.e. field exercises/deployments), the transitioning person and their commander or manager should discuss and agree upon an appropriate arrangement to ensure the needs of all people are met. This situation would only apply prior to the transitioning person undergoing gender realignment surgery.
  [p. 7]

• Note that the use of the term ‘sex change’ may be perceived as derogatory.
  [p. 12]

• The precise definition for transgender remains in constant flux.
  [p. 13]

• Approximately one in 11,000 males and one in 30,000 females have the condition. Note that the prevalence of the condition is often understated as most statistics only look at those people who have completed surgery.
  [p. 16]

Note those figures on the rate of incidence of Gender Identity Disorder ("the condition" to which that last quotation refers): So in a randomly-selected sample of 60000 people, with a male:female ratio of presumably roughly 50:50, there will be roughly three "transgender women" and roughly one "transgender man" (see p. 13 for the terminology). Even if you want to double that in order to take into account the fact that the prevalence is supposedly understated, that's still only six men who feel that they're women and two women who feel that they're men. Now according to the Defence Annual Report 2009-10,

At 30 June 2010, Defence had 73,490 permanent employees (headcount) comprising 57,799 permanent ADF members and 15,691 APS staff.
[http://www.defence.gov.au/Budget/09-10/dar/dar_0910_v1_s4.pdf#nameddest=a7]

and the Defence Materiel Organisation will employ, in 2011-2012, "over 7,000 people" (source), so that one would expect that the entire Defence workforce will contain, at most, a mere ten "transgender people". Why, then, would the Department even bother putting together a whole booklet on Defence employees' 'gender affirmation' (destroying the gender in order to affirm it?) and tell its commanders and managers that it "is important" that they "are aware of their obligations and responsibilities with regard to the support and management of people who are transitioning gender"? Could it be that there is an ideological motive involved here? I see that one of the websites listed under the heading "Additional Resources" on p. 17 is that of "Pride in Diversity"; I've blogged on "Pride in Diversity" in item 6 of this edition of Notes, and you'll see at its website that it "was established as a collaboration between" Stonewall, "a London-based LGBT advocacy group", and two other organisations.

Labels: A.D.F., Defence Department, G.L.B.T., Pride in Diversity

2. On The Australian's attitude towards so-called gay marriage

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/same-sex-marriage-debate-must-not-be-shut-down/story-e6frg71x-1226122387432

That link leads to what is, to date, the fullest statement of The Australian's official editorial attitude towards so-called gay marriage. Its author writes that

The Australian leans towards libertarianism on social issues, believing the state should tread as lightly as possible around personal issues. It is not our role to pronounce one way or another on same-sex marriage ...

Yet in that editorial and this earlier one The Australian puts inverted commas around the word "marriage" when speaking of polygamous ones without ever, as far as I can recall, doing so for same-sex unions.

And that editorial, after noting some of the problems involved with gay 'marriage', says that "[n]one of [those] difficulties are insurmountable" (which indicates that The Australian has no in-principle opposition to the notion). But how does The Australian propose to 'surmount' a same-sex marriage's constitutional incapacity for consummation? And how does it propose to 'surmount' the deprivation of a mother for those children procured by Gay 'husbands' and their respective 'wives' and of a father for children procured by Lesbian 'husbands' and their respective 'wives'?

Labels: Australian, families, G.L.B.T., marriage, parenthood

3. "approximately 24 percent of [American] children are born to co-habiting couples"

http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=27879

Labels: families, parenthood, U.S.A.

4. "the Holy Father does not allow Girl Altar Boys within his own Diocese of Rome"

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2011/08/should-the-infamous-altar-girl-decision-be-reversed-wm-oddie-opines-wdtprs-polls-included/

Labels: Diocese of Rome, liturgy

5. "Why mothers matter"

http://www.mercatornet.com/articles/view/why_mothers_matter/

(That came to my attention via the LMF News e-mail of August 2011 from The Archdiocese of Sydney's Life, Marriage & Family Centre.)

Labels: families, parenthood

6. "The statistics on women in Victoria having terminations from 24 weeks into pregnancy are incomplete, badly presented and out of date - but they still allow us to estimate the number at slightly fewer than 138 women a year"

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/talk-choice-no-time-to-waste-20110828-1jgft.html?skin=text-only

Labels: abortion

7. Mr. Magister on, among other things, then-Fr. Ratzinger's involvement with the Neo-catechumenal Way in its early days

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=38675

Labels: Benedict XVI. Ratzinger, Neo-catechumenal Way

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Lawrence Justinian, Bishop, Confessor, A.D. 2011

Notes: Saturday-Monday, October 16-25, 2010 (part 1 of 2)

1. Some recent media items on abortion

1.1 "Abortion legalised [in Queensland] by pair's acquittal"

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/legal-affairs/abortion-legalised-by-pairs-acquittal/story-e6frg97x-1225939895811

1.2 "Anti-abortion while remaining firmly pro-choice"

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/anti-abortion-while-remaining-firmly-pro-choice/story-e6frg6zo-1225939077008

1.3 A little snapshot from Australia's abortion culture

From time to time one hears reported that some certain huge proportion of women will have an abortion at some point in their respective lives or that some similarly huge proportion of pregnancies will end in abortion, but such figures, appalling yet abstract and impersonal as they are, perhaps don't sink in in such a way as for us to understand the culture of abortion which they involve (and perpetuate). The following paragraph in a recent news/opinion article helps to 'personalise' one's understanding of Australia's squalid but widespread abortion culture:

[Tegan Leach] turned to boyfriend Sergie Brennan, now 23. They agreed to abort. Together they told their parents. Both had sisters who’d been through a suction curette and told them, if a little bluntly, “it gets sucked out and scraped out’’.
[http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/this-abortion-trial-should-never-be-repeated/]

1.4 Mr. Schütz contra Ms O'Brien on abortion

A mostly good fisking of some pro-abortion nonsense published in the Melbourne Herald Sun:

http://scecclesia.wordpress.com/2010/10/19/truth-is-dispensible-if-it-makes-you-feel-guilty/

1.5 Dr. Durie (Anglican minister) on late-term abortions in Victoria

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=34355

2. Msgr. Fellay on, among other things, Vatican policy on the S.S.P.X as a policy of "contradictions"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=34323http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=34323

See also

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=34360

3. Interesting series of items in the Herald regarding Catholic womenpriests

The first was a letter published, with other letters, under the heading "Lapses - and laps - of Catholic faith":

I think many Catholics saw the irony of the Mary MacKillop celebrations in a church in which women are still excluded from full participation. As I said at Mass last Sunday: "Today we celebrate a woman's canonisation; hopefully it won't be too long before we celebrate a woman's ordination."

Father John CrothersSt Declan's Church, Penshurst
[http://www.smh.com.au/national/letters/settlement-of-djs-case-doesnt-ease-the-tension-20101019-16sfb.html?skin=text-only]

Then came a response published, with other letters, under the heading "Where science meets miracles" the next day:

Father John Crothers (Letters, October 20) will rejoice if women are ordained priests. Frankly I will celebrate when, as a Catholic priest ought, he upholds definitive Catholic teaching on non-ordination of women, instead of encouraging dissent and scandalous confusion.

Father John George Randwick
[http://www.smh.com.au/national/letters/ten-more-years-floundering-in-afghanistan-20101020-16u65.html?skin=text-only]

The day after that came two (or three) more letters, published, with one other, unrelated letter, under the heading "Grassroots Catholics ready for change":

Thank you, Father John George (Letters, October 21), for reminding me how fortunate I am to be a parishioner of St Declan's, Penshurst. Father John Crothers understands we can think for ourselves and, far from encouraging dissent, I expect he reflects the views of most Catholics in the universal church, practising and non-practising. That is why his church is packed every Sunday, many people travelling from other parishes because their own parish priests express views such as those of Father George.

Mary Lawson Mortdale

No good deed goes unpunished, it seems. According to Father John George, Father John Crothers, by advocating the ordination of women in the Catholic Church, is spreading ''dissent and scandalous confusion''. Some said Our Lord spread a bit of dissent in his time, too.

Hugh Sturgess Balmain

Apparently it is not just atheists who find diversity of opinion discomforting. The letters page is full of Christians who seem to find diversity of opinion among other Christians discomforting. Maybe we all need to be a bit more relaxed about what other people believe.

Robin Herbert Hornsby
[http://www.smh.com.au/national/letters/absence-reveals-leaders-contempt-for-debate-20101021-16vwc.html?skin=text-only]

On the same day, the Herald also published an opinion piece, brought to my attention by a post by Terra, by Dr. Laura Beth Bugg:

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/catholic-women-need-to-challenge-hierarchy-for-good-of-the-church-20101021-16vxh.html?skin=text-only

Interesting how the Herald has facilitated the debate.

4. New tactic for ethics classes advocates to neutralise opposition

[...] The Australian Christian Lobby called for more consultation with the government following Ms Firth's announcement.

Its NSW director, David Hutt, said nothing in the report allayed fears of church groups that having ethics classes at the same time as scripture classes would mean that scripture students ''will be forced to forgo ethics teaching''.

However, Ms Firth said ethics course material would be made available to scripture teachers.

Simon Longstaff, the executive director of the St James Ethics Centre, which ran the trial, said providing the material would ''help ensure that no child is drawn away from scripture simply to explore material provided in the ethics course''.
[my emphasis,
http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/lock-in-ethics-classes-say-greens-20101020-16ud8.html?skin=text-only]

Quite clever, from a P.R. perspective, but it still fails to invalidate the (in my opinion cleverer, again from a P.R. perspective) objection of ethics class opponents that pupils and their respective parents will be forced to choose between S.R.E. and the ethics classes, because the same trade-off between S.R.E. content or ethics class content remains.

5. Latest figures on Australian popular support for so-called gay marriage

MORE than three-quarters of Australians support a conscience vote on same-sex marriage and an increased majority want gay and lesbian couples to be able to marry.

Findings from a new poll of 1050 respondents came as the independent MP Andrew Wilkie called on the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, to move on the issue, saying she was ''out of step with the people''.

[...] The Galaxy poll showed support for same-sex marriage increased from 60 per cent of respondents in 2009 to 62 per cent this year.

The survey, which was conducted over two days earlier this month, showed uniform support for a conscience vote across party lines with 80 per cent of Labor and 75 per cent of Liberal voters agreeing to the idea.

While supporting a conscience vote, Liberal voters were much less likely to agree to allow same-sex couples to marry, with less than half supporting the change. Nearly three-quarters of Labor voters and four out of five Greens voters support same-sex marriage.

The survey also shows that younger Australians are more likely (80 per cent) to support same-sex marriage than those aged over 50 years (46 per cent). [...]
[http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/lifematters/pm-should-let-the-people-vote-on-gay-marriage-20101022-16xx8.html?from=watoday_ft?skin=text-only]

6. Impending naming-and-shaming of insufficiently pro-G.L.B.T. businesses by a new initiative of the Sodomites' League

One can't even read the careers section of a newspaper these days without finding gay propaganda. An article on page three in the public sector section of The Weekend Australian's "Weekend Professional" supplement last Saturday entitled "'Homophobia keeps employees in closet'" (apparently not available on-line) brought an interesting new initiative to the attention of readers:

The Pride in Diversity program was created by community-based LGBT health and HIV/AIDS group ACON , in partnership with Diversity Council Australia and Stonewall, a London-based LGBT advocacy group. Since being launched in February, a broad range of employers have signed up as foundation members, including the Australian Federal Police, the Department of Defence, Telstra, KPMG and IBM.

So KPMG goes LGBT. A double serving of alphabet soup.

[...] Pride in Diversity will launch the first workplace equality index in November, whereby employers will be able to measure how inclusive their workplace is of LGBT staff.

Something to look forward to.

Reginaldvs Cantvar

Feast of Sts. Chrysanthus and Daria, Martyrs, A.D. 2010