Scoop Feedback: Jacquie Grant vs Garnet milne

Friday, 24 December 2004, 11:10 am
Opinion: Scoop Feedback

Letter To The Editor
Scoop.co.nz

A response to:
Open Letter to Hon Margaret Wilson - Campaign Against Civil Union Bill

It is apparent that your correspondent Garnet Milne, a man who describes himself as a Christian, is determined to mis-represent and twist the meanings in the much publicised emails he claims Jacquie Grant sent to his web site.

It seems clear that this supposed man of God twists to suit his own agenda, a simple statement from Jacquie Grant. The statement "rest assured you will be taken to task at every opportunity for hate crime," is twisted to the Garnet Milne version being that Jacquie Grant is somehow going to use her position on the HRC to punish Milne. This of course is as laughable as it is impossible and shows either Garnet Milne is ignorant of Jacquie Grant's role on the tribunal or is a deliberate mis-construction.

Any rational person would interpret that comment to mean if you publish hateful statements that are illegal or offensive you will be taken to task, i.e. media releases, or damning the publication putting the opposite view, much like Garnet Milne has been doing to Jacquie Grant.

As for Jacquie Grant's comment "You are all the same" one must remember in this email she was responding to a publication written and promoted by an extreme group of fundementalist Christians and I note she makes a link with Destiny Church here. She is drawing the comparison. I also note the selective editing which has effectively put a different slant on the whole matter but fortunately anyone with any degree of education will have noticed that.

Garnet Milne tries to make the link she was acting on behalf of the HRC. Here he fails miserably. Jacquie Grant signed the first email with her own name followed by her title MNZM, then member HRC. No-where did she claim to be representing the Commision. Signing the initial email to Garnet Milne thus, was to demonstrate she was a person with credibility .

I would suggest that Garnet Milne is not, never has been, and in my oppinion will never be a Christian. A true Christian would never behave in such a manner. Would never display this level of intolerance and would never try to make himself look good by belittling others. I feel sorry for this man and pray God will forgive him for his misguided beliefs.

The following sermon was written and delivered to the All Saints Anglican Church, Hokitika, last Sunday by Jacquie Grant .The sermon was given a standing ovation by the congregation. A rare event for any church.

Yours sincerely

L.M.Hawkins

The red summer sky was glowing ominously, the swirling black clouds cast shadows over the three storied Victorian buildings that dwarfed the Plane trees that lining the Street's in Sydney's notorious Kings Cross.

There was a storm brewing.

Could this have been a sign, maybe an omen, that tomorrow would not be a good day?

At the bottom of the steep, short, narrow street, a flight of giant stone steps, which seemed as though they could have lead to some ancient pagan temple loomed in the gathering darkness. The 500 steps were built many years ago by the convict's who had helped to shape modern Sydney. The steps led to Upper Victoria Street and were a short cut to the hustle and bustle of the main thoroughfare of the Cross where the bright lights shone out like a beacon of hope.

The two attractive girls with their bouffont hair styles and heavy makeup one as dark as the other was fair were dressed to kill. They looked young, no more than fourteen or possibly fifteen, however, something did not seem quite right, this was not the place to come across two so young. Not in Sydney's infamous King's Cross. This was, after all, the habitat of prostitutes, pimps, thieves, drunks, gamblers, and the like.

Suddenly the scene changes. There is a dramatic squealing tyres, shouting, and a sudden realization from the two girls that this is for their benifit.

One screams and starts running toward the bottom of the street and what she obviously saw as the safety of the steps where no car could travel.

The second girl, a little slower, also starts running and suddenly she no longer looks so fragile. Now her tight skirt is up to her waist, her high heel shoes in one hand and what a minute ago had been the long, dark, hair on her head, in the other hand. She ran quickly overtaking her friend in a sprint any Olympic athlete would have been proud of. Crack.... whoosh, crack..... whoosh, crack.... whoosh, they're trying to shoot us screamed the blonde girl as they leapt for safety and started climbing the never ending steps.

"Quick. Jump over here." said the dark girl, her Aboriginal features silhouetted for a brief moment on the skyline.

"No it's to big a drop". was the reply and they continued toward the top of the steps to the sound of laughter and taunts from the waiting men below.

Exhausted and by now minus wigs shoes and bags they reach the top of the steps, the dark girl pants "why do they want to shoot us?" the other replies "you know they hate us."

"Got you now you queers." said the policeman who had been waiting in the shadows knowing that their quarry would surely run this way the only other alternative being shot and dumped in the near by harbour.

As they grabbed the girls and threw them into the back of a paddy wagon for the inevitable beating and trip to the police station, the court house and eventually prison.

"What charge." asked the court clerk.

"Offensive behavior" was the reply.

"How do you plead."

"Guilty." the girls mumbled. They knew if they said anything else the sentence and a further beating would have been worse.

"Three months, Long Bay." said the magistrate and that was that except for the final indignity on arrival at the Jail. The girls were paraded in the open, stripped naked, heads shaved, and given a uniform.

By now you must be thinking these two must have committed some terrible crime and indeed they had. They were transsexuals doing what felt to them, normal and natural. They were dressed in women's clothes. The year was 1959.

One of those girls, the dark one, died in 1980 from a drug overdose. She was unable to cope with the after effects of electric shock treatment and massive injections of male hormones to cure her of her supposed disease.

Being Transgender.

The other as you may have guessed by now was me.

Now 46 years later I'm standing outside parliament buildings. 5 to 6 thousand men are marching towards the gates and chanting enough is enough in perfect unison. Upraised clenched fists, black uniforms, polished shoes, the military precision was frightening, as were the foul comments and taunts coming from some of these so called men of God.

"Kill all the queers for Christ,"

" Rid the world of faggot's."

"Burn faggots." etc.

The Destiny march starts me thinking what's changed over the last 45 years for people like me. Okay, we have had some law changes, they don't put us in physical prisons any more, but has much changed in the way society, especially the Christian church,...... understand or even try to understand the position people like me find ourselves in?

>From my earliest memories I knew I was different to the other little boys I played with and went to school with.

It was not long before they knew it as well and I was shunned, a loner, an outcast.

"Sorry my mum won't let me play with you." was a common comment and I had no idea why. How does a little kid ever know these things, was it my environment?

I was brought up in a strict High Church of England family. Three times every Sunday church that was.

Was I corrupted by the priest or the choir master? No. They weren't guilty.

Did I have a dominant mother? No. The opposite actually. (can't blame her).

It took me quite while to figure it out. I guess I was about 9 or ten when I realized what was wrong. I was starting to have crushes on boys and liked the girl's clothes better than what I had to wear. I quickly realized I was a girl, my parents had it wrong.

I didn't wake up one day and suddenly decide.... I'm going to be Gay. I know, I'll change sex, that'll be so much fun, what a great lifestyle choice, that is as silly as it sounds, and is so far from the truth of the matter.

After hearing my story could you really imagine why anyone knowing they would be vilified, hated, murdered, burnt, tortured, imprisoned, etc would choose the gay lifestyle?

The reason I have come here today is because I have recently been accused of hating all Christians. that is simply not true. I do not, and have never truly hated anyone in my life.

What I don't like though, is people who hide behind a mask of Christianity and use the bible selectively to advance their own prejudices and hatred.

Norhave I come here today to ask any of you to feel sorry for me. What I have come for, is to ask that you think about people from my community, and think about how Jesus Christ would deal with us, would he have turned away?

Being transsexual or homosexual is really no more profound than any other difference between some people.

Most people are born straight, but some are gay.

Most people are born right handed, but some are left handed. More babies are born girls than boys.

People are born with many different skin colours, eye colours and hair colours.

People are a dizzying array of heights and weights. There are a huge number of differences among people, and sexuality just happens to be among them.

It is God who has made every person as they are. Each one of us, and every part of each of us, is included in God's plan for us. That means God must somehow be involved with some people being homosexual.

That being the case, why would His Word condemn homosexuality? There has to be a mistake in that reasoning. Or maybe homosexuals are themselves the mistake? If so, then God is playing a cruel trick, and we know God does not do this.

" And now I give you a new commandment : Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. If you have love for one another, then everyone will know that you are my disciples."

John 13:34 - 35

ENDS

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