Editorial

by Katherine Cummings

(The Gender Centre advise that this article may not be current and as such certain content, including but not limited to persons, contact details and dates may not apply. Where legal authority or medical related matters are cited, responsibility lies with the reader to obtain the most current relevant legal authority and/or medical publication.)

Three years into the new millennium and counting. Let's just try to make it a better millennium than the last one. No Black Deaths, thank you, no Crusades and no world wars. As Christopher Fry said in one of his plays "Peace on Earth and good tall women". And talking of good women, not necessarily tall, our cover this issue features Kooncha, who is on the Management Committee of the Gender Centre and works for ACON. I had hoped to have her story, but she is modest and hard to reach, so all you get this time around is her image. But like so many of the members of the Management Committee, she provides support and guidance to the Centre unobtrusively and quietly. Now is a good time to thank the Committee as a whole and I do so with all sincerity and good wishes for the coming year.

This issue also includes the story of Rachael Padman, one of the world's more distinguished Australian transgenders. She is an astrophysicist and might never have come to the world's attention if it had not been for the malign efforts of Germaine Greer to have her fired from her teaching job in an all-women's college at Cambridge University. Greer failed, thanks to the good sense of the administration of Newnham College.

There is an interesting contrast between theory and practice in the item about Tasmania's recognition of same-sex unions on page 9 (theory) on the one hand and Ros Houston's experience with the Tasmanian Anti-Discrimination Tribunal page 32 (practice) on the other.

And there is a useful Health Report for parents of transgender children. Draw it to the attention of anyone you think might benefit from it.

And we have our first written Social and Support Report (page 11) from the newest stars in our firmament, Jai and Grace, who are doing a terrific job. Thanks, kids!

Polare is published in Australia by The Gender Centre Inc. which is funded by the Department of Community Services under the S.A.A.P. Program and supported by the N.S.W. Health Department through the AIDS and Infectious Diseases Branch. Polare provides a forum for discussion and debate on gender issues. Advertisers are advised that all advertising is their responsibility under the Trade Practices Act. Unsolicited contributions are welcome, though no guarantee is made by the Editor that they will be published, nor any discussion entered into. The editor reserves the right to edit such contributions without notification. Any submission which appears in Polare may be published on our internet site. Opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of the Editor, The Gender Centre Inc.I, the Department of Community Services or the N.S.W. Department of Health.