Save Loophole Community Centre!

 

Loophole has been established for five years, offering a free space for community members to engage and interact on important social issues.

 

Loophole is an umbrella organisation providing a home to a wide array of arts and humanities projects. These currently include Food Not Bombs, Ceres Food Connect, Sharehood, Transition Darebin, Rad Kids Play Group, Free Bike Work Shop (inc. workshops specificaaly for wom*n’s and trans folk), Barricade
Bookshop, Stepping Up (group focused on community based responses to interpersonal violence), Otesha, Approtech, Buff Club (strength training for wom*n & trans* folk), Edible Veg, Seed Swappers, Sew Radical Craft Group, Rad Choir, and many other local, community initiatives.

 

We provide work experience opportunities for volunteers, food distribution for the homeless, Women and Children’s Space, a library, bookshop, free shop (clothes, blankets, children’s toys,), free café, free wireless, bike workshop, community permaculture garden, community theatre rehearsal space, exhibition space, and a supportive venue for local musicians and performers.

 

We have offered a range of free classes including languages: ESL and Mandarin,
Community violence response workshops, skill shares, improvisation/music, bike maintenance, horticulture, yoga, palates, self-defence, arts and crafts, post peak resilience economics, and much more.

 

We are frequented by; artists, conscientious citizens, mothers, children, homeless and survivors of violence, community workers, permaculture mavericks and beginners, bike nuts, ecologists, writers, musicians, young performers, oodles of others and a cat called Max.

 

We have had visitors from all over the country and the world.

 

We are non-denominational, intergenerational, non-hierarchical, not for profit, wheelchair accessible and rely on zero government funding.

 

We’ve paid our rent, given everything for free and asked for nothing in return except that people never stop imagining a more ethical existence.

 

AND NOW THIS…After long and drawn out negotiations with the real estate agents of an uncompromising landlord…

 

LOOPHOLE HAS BEEN SERVED AN EVICTION NOTICE FOR JUNE 11TH.
LOOPHOLE IS AT EXTREME RISK OR BECOMING A HOMELESS COMMUNITY
CENTER! ONLY A CO ORDINATED EFFORT BY ITS PATRONS AND THE WIDER
MELBOURNE COMMUNITY CAN SAVE IT.

 

We are turning to you in desperate need of assistance.

 
WHAT CAN I DO TO HELP??

Lots! Here’s a list of examples, but don’t feel limited, please feel free to come up
with you own ideas and act upon them.

• LOOPHOLE NEEDS A PLACE TO MOVE INTO so if you know of any empty spaces with a kind, reasonable and community spirited owner, especially if you are that owner, please contact us.

• We are looking ASAP for an aspiring FILM MAKER to shoot a DOCUMENTARY while these few weeks unfold.

• In the interim, we are in dire need of STORAGE SPACES to temporarily house components of the centre (eg bike workshop, library, etc)
• ALTERNATE SPACES where user groups can temporarily relocate, eg) Food Not Bombs, Rad Play Group, Rad Choir, Sew radical etc,
• Donations of HANDS and hearts to help with all aspects of MOVING,
• MONEY, stop in or donate online. Moving is expensive.
• WRITE A LETTER, SIGN PETITION AND GET ON THE PHONE
• COME TO OUR EXHIBITION on June 8th, buy rad art, get inspired and keep our Loophole open.
• DROP IN, stop by, show us some love.
• We are CALLING ALL SUPPORT NETWORKS to come and join us and CELEBRATE the space during its final death throws (before helping it transmogrify into some wonderfully fluid, revitalised life form).

 
Loophole provides an invaluable service as a human resource and with a bit of tenderness and support from the wider community may continue to do so, for years to come. Please be considerate, stay safe and have fun while you help our precious Loophole stay open.

Thanks and blessings to all our volunteers, patrons and everyone who
has supported and continues to support Loophole over the years. You
made our community centre a castle.

“To The Exclusion of All Others: Queers Questioning Gay Marriage” – Call Out For Papers, Poems, Critiques etc!

This publication will offer differing voices as the fight for gay marriage threatens to completely envelope all other struggles in the queer community. Inspired by Against Equality: Queer Critiques of Gay Marriage, this publication will focus primarily on Australia and the specific effects the marriage campaign has on the queer community. This publication is aiming to explore events such as John Howard’s changing of the marriage laws, the normalising of the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, white washing of the queer community and the erasure of trans* peoples voices.

Ultimately this will be a publication that tries to carve out a queer future that isn’t campaigning for a state sanctioned piece of paper.

Seeking works from far ranging topics by folks from all across our communities. Please circulate widely.

 

Please also see:
https://totheexclusionofallothers.com/

“To The Exclusion of All Others” Facebook group

“To The Exclusion of All Others” Call Out Facebook event

Some topic ideas/areas of inquiry/inspiration:

– Trans* people and the marriage debate

– Racism and white privilege in marriage

– Normalised bodies, ability and who is “marriageable”

– Queer struggles for racial and economic justice

– Indigenous peoples’ rights

– Will it “get better”?

– Capitalism, the pink dollar and class privilege

– Gender and gay marriage

– Intimate partner violence

– Patriarchy

– Homonormativity

– Heteronormativity

– Feminism

– Intersections of oppressions

– The politics of inclusion/incorporation into oppressive institutions

– Marriage and law

– Speciesism

– Polyamory/open relationships

– Family and children

– Queers in favour of gay marriage

– Future: reformist vs. transformative changes

 

Please note these are ideas, feel free to create your own.

Academic papers will potentially be peer reviewed.

All submissions need to be in word format, 12p Times New Roman. Include name, short bio, and page numbers.

If submissions require references please use Chicago with endnotes rather then footnotes. For any reference enquirers please contact us.

Submit to: totheexclusionofallothers@gmail.com

Queer Newz Week 12

Hey queers and friends,

It’s been a huge semester of events in the Queer Department – we’ve had movie screenings on campus and cinema excursions, barbecues and weekly lunches, Rad Sex & Consent Week (with about thirty workshops, not to mention a performance night off-campus), IDAHOT, a special event with Amanda Palmer, almost a dozen Queerys and a series of Drag School classes – and now, sadly, it’s almost over. Although if you’re as tired by this point in the semester as we are, you’re probably ready for a break anyway!
We’d really encourage everybody to make the most of our events this week, because after Thursday’s Queer Space Party, it’s all over until late July, when semester two gets started. We’re also sad to announce that this week’s events will be the last organised by Katie Grimmer as Queer Officer. Katie has done amazing work for the Queer Department all year, both running events and behind the scenes, and she’ll be sorely missed when she leaves. Luckily, she won’t be leaving the department bereft: at the beginning of semester two, we’ll be announcing the appointment of a new Queer OB, so stay tuned!

 

Here’s WHAT’S ON in week 12:

A. Queery: Femmes and Femmephobia

B.   Lunch with the Queer Bunch

C. Final Drag School!

D. End-of-Semester QUEER SPACE PARTY

 
A. Queery: Femmes and Femmephobia
When: Tuesday, 1 – 2 P.M.
Where: Queer Space, 3^rd Floor, Union House
What: What does femme actually mean!? What does it mean to you? What is femmephobia? How are femmes invisibilized in Queer communities? How is femininity devalued in Queer communities as well as society more generally (…and how does this relate to misogyny, transmisogyny and homophobia)?…

Come to the FINAL QUEERY FOR THE SEMESTER to discuss all this & more!

Related readings/vids here!

 

B. Lunch with the Queer Bunch
When: Wednesday 1 – 2 P.M.
Where: Queer Space, 3^rd Floor, Union House
What: Our weekly Wednesday casual catch-up in the Queer Space return this week! As usual, come along to grab a free lunch voucher for the Melbourne Uni Food Co-op, and join other queer, LGBTI or questioning students for an hour of food, fun, friends, frivolity, etc! It’s a great opportunity to relax between classes, make new friends, and catch up with old ones.

(Note: please remember not to leave dirty plates or food scraps in the Queer Space when you leave – it’s a communal space, which means it’s the responsibility of all of us to look after it!)

 

C. Final Drag School!

When: Wednesday 5 – 7 P.M.
Where: Queer Space, 3^rd Floor, Union House
What: This will be the last weekly class in the Drag School program. It’ll be an opportunity to build on everything that’s been covered so far, and talk about where we want to take our drag ambitions into the future! If you’ve come to any of the Drag School classes so far and enjoyed yourself, it’s definitely worth coming to this last session – not only will it help to summarise what we’ve learnt, but we can decide as a group if we want to do anything further, such as organise the Drag School photoshoot that’s been discussed. If you haven’t come to Drag School yet and feel like you’ve missed out, don’t worry, you’re still welcome to join in at any time!

If you’ve put together a Drag School costume over the previous weeks, don’t forget to bring it along to this class – if people are into the idea, we’ll get in front of the camera for a Drag School Video Diary, in which other members of the group will interview you in character. This is just a characterisation exercise, so don’t worry if you don’t want anything to be done with the video, we can delete it at the end of the class.

 

D. End-of-Semester QUEER SPACE PARTY
When: Thursday 4.30 – 8 P.M.
Where: Queer Space, 3^rd Floor, Union House
What: Next Thursday, the 24th of May, we’ll be holding one last Queer Space Party, to celebrate everything we’ve done together so far this year. We’ll be kicking off at 4.30 P.M., and running through to about 8.00. That’s about the time security will kick us out, but there’s always the potential for further hijinks later on if people wanna stay out – maybe group dinner at a nearby restaurant, and/or a trip to Gaytown (i.e. Smith St) if people can sustain the energy.

Having said that, you probably won’t be too hungry after the party, because we’ll have plenty of food on hand, including chips and dips (homemade guacamole and chilli con queso), mini-tacos and cake. All of that will be vegan and gluten free, or have vegan and gluten free options available. There’ll also be a range of drinks including soft, beer and cider, wine and – hopefully, if we can get away with it! – a big bowl of freshly-made margarita. There’ll also be music, glitter, and delightful queer babes of all genders to meet… basically, you can look forward to Awesome Party Times. And it’s our last event for two months, so don’t even think about missing out!

See you Thursday!!!

Dear Cis People

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From http://dearcispeople.tumblr.com/

(check out our updated blog roll for more newly added blogs!  ALSO, more blog recommendations welcome/encouraged!)

Queery Week 12: Femmes & Femmephobia

What does femme actually mean!? What does it mean to you? What is femmephobia? How are femmes invisibilized in Queer communities? How is femininity devalued in Queer communities as well as society more generally (…and how does this relate to misogyny, transmisogyny and homophobia)?…

Come to the FINAL QUEERY FOR THE SEMESTER to discuss all this & more!

 

 

READING MATERIAL!:

 

ARTICLES

Get_your_anti-femininity_out_of_my_feminism

What is femme anyway?

No Queer Girls Are Queerer Than Others

Queerness and clothing 

They’re not femme! OR Who has the monopoly on femme?

What Transmisogyny Looks Like 

 

BOOKS

‘Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity’, By Julia Serano

“I wanted to subtitle the book The Scapegoating of Femininity because I think this idea that all people who are feminine are maligned is a totally unexplored area of gender activism. As someone who is a femme dyke, I would argue that we’d be better off calling out the people who dismiss femmes for their hatred of femininity than trying to frame our femininity in this gender-transgressive way that insinuates straight women’s femininity is reinforcing sexist norms. Anyone who’s been in the queer community or who’s been involved in feminism knows that some people have a really condescending attitude towards straight people, and straight women in particular. And I do not understand how people can self-rationalize that kind of behavior with any kind of ending of [societal] sexism.”

 

‘And Then You Cut Your Hair:Genderfucking on the Femme Side of the Spectrum’ from Nobody Passes: Rejecting the Rules of Gender And Conformity, By Matt Bernstein Sycamore

(can read some segments online here!)

 

ZINES

CosmoQueer: The Femme Issue

One Being Hard Femme 

 

BLOGS (+ STUFF JUST FO’ FUN!)

http://fuckyeahfemmes.com/

http://fuckyeahhardfemme.tumblr.com/

http://femmeflagging.tumblr.com/  (+ wikipedia intro on femme flagging)

 

 

 

 

Kristen Stewart does Drag!

in the June edition of Elle Magazine….

 

 

 

      

      

On a related note! http://heygirlitiskstew.tumblr.com/

Queery Continued: More Posts on Priv!

Relevant to some of the discussions we had (p.s. thanks to everyone who came, pretty much constantly in awe of everyone’s awesomeness!) xx

 

 

“So if you – the oppressed – hurt someone’s feelings, you’re just like the oppressor, right? Wrong. Oppression is not about hurt feelings. It is about the rights and opportunities that are not afforded to you because you belong to a certain group of people. When you use a racist slur you imply that non-whiteness is a bad thing, and thus publicly reinforce a system that denies POC the rights and opportunities of white people. Calling a white person a racist fuckhead doesn’t do any of that. Yes, it’s not very nice. And how effective it is as a tactic is definitely up for debate (that’s a whole other blog post). But it’s not oppression.”

From http://www.socialjusticeleague.net

 

 

From http://superqueerartsyblog.tumblr.com/

 

MORE READINGS!

– “Ally: Ask Yourself”

– Being “privileged” doesn’t mean your life is rosy

– http://whitepriv.blogspot.com.au/

Queery Week 11: Privilege

“I did not see myself as a racist because I was taught to recognize racism only in individual acts of meanness by members of my group, never in invisible systems conferring unsought racial dominance on my group from birth.”

The above quote is by Peggy McIntosh who invented the idea of “privilege lists” with her piece  White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack, which has spawned all kinds of different privilege checklists (see below!) intended to encourage people to become aware of the unacknowledged, unearned privileges that they are socialized to remain oblivious about, and the way in which this can result in unconscious oppressiveness.

To tie in with International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (on this Thursday), at this week’s Queery we will be discussing Heterosexual and *Cis privilege, as well as other types of privilege (e.g. white privilege, able-bodied privilege, class privilege, male privilege… and more!) which can also negatively affect people within the queer community.

*Note: Cis refers to having a gender identity that matches the gender you were assigned at birth. It is the opposite of transgender.

READING MATERIAL!

“Check my what?” On privilege and what we can do about it

the heterosexual priviledge checklist

cis privilege checklist

white privilege checklist

FAQ: What is male privilege?

(also has some good basic info on privilege in general….)

“Since social status is conferred in many different ways — everything from race to geography to class — all people are both privileged and non-privileged in certain aspects of their life. Furthermore, since dynamics of social status are highly dependent on situation, a person can benefit from privilege in one situation while not benefiting from it in another. It is also possible to have a situation in which a person simultaneously is the beneficiary of privilege while also being the recipient of discrimination in an area which they do not benefit from privilege.”

Male privilege checklist

A list of other privilege lists!   (including class privilege, body size privilege & more!)

The dos and donts of being a good ally

Derailing for Dummies

A sarcastic guide to derailing conversations with and about members of marginalized groups. Intended to illustrate how not to engage in discourse about various issues.

Queer Newz Week 10!

A. Regular Events – Queery – Lunch with the Queer Bunch – Drag School

B. Union House Sleepover + NEW Queer Housing Facebook Group!  

C. Rad Sex and Consent Week wrap up!

D. Coming Out Comics

 

A. Regular Events – Queery – Lunch with the Queer Bunch – Drag School 

– Queery:

(Tues, 1pm in the Queer space, 3^rd floor Union House)

Cuz Rad Sex and Consent Week was EPIC we needed a bit of a break (maybe the same is true for others?!) so haven’t really planned an official queery topic this week…

BUT we thought for however wants too it could be good to debrief about Rad Sex and Consent Week  – what our favourite workshops were – coolest/most valuable/etc. things we learned – thoughts on the zine – which performances we liked at the performance night, any other thoughts/feelings that came up that  you wanna share, etc!

We will also bring along feedback forms for people to fill out and submit anonymously 9see below for online version). Even if you didn’t make it to the week this is a chance to still engage with some of the awesome ideas and also pick up a hard copy of the zine if you haven’t got one yet!

 

– Lunch with the Queer Bunch:

(Wed, 1- 2 P.M, Queer Space, 3rd Floor, Union House)
Our weekly Wednesday casual catch-up in the Queer Space returns this week! As usual, come along to grab a free lunch voucher for the Melbourne Uni Food Co-op, and join other queer, LGBTI or questioning students for an hour of food, fun, friends, frivolity, etc!  It’s a great opportunity to relax between classes, make new friends, and catch up with old ones.

(Note: please remember not to leave dirty plates or food scraps in the Queer Space when you leave – it’s a communal space, which means it’s the responsibility of all of us to look after it!)

 

– Drag School

(Wed, 5 – 7 P.M, Queer Space, 3rd Floor, Union House)

This is the 3^rd last Drag School! Especially if you want to be a part of the end of semester Drag School photo shoot make sure to come along to continue to develop your drag characters and skills!

 

B. Union House Sleepover + NEW Queer Housing Facebook Group!  

Whether because of bad family situations, housing discrimination, and/or other reasons, housing is an issue that affects a lot of queer students. Whether you are personally affected yourself, or want to support those who are, come along to the Union House Sleepover on Wednesday night! Event details here!

And email: environment@union.unimelb.edu.au to get involved in the Student Housing Action Collective more generally.

ALSO

In line with this issue, the Queer Department has just created a new “Queer Housing Melbourne” Facebook Group “for anyone looking for a queer/queer-friendly housemate or a queer/queer-friendly house to post and check out housing notices….So we can all find perfect home sweet homos! If interested, visit/join here.

 

C. Rad Sex and Consent Week wrap up!

We want to thank everyone who contributed (including the amazing organisers/volunteers, workshop presenters/facilitators, and performers) and came along to Rad Sex and Consent Week for making it such an epic, amazing, successful event!

If you’d like to give feedback (all anonymous) please fill out our online survey here!

And for an online version of the zine visit here! https://umsuqueer.wordpress.com/resources/zines/ or here! http://radsexconsent.com/zines/

When we get the time we are also hoping to keep posting stuff to radsexconsent.com so people can keep engaging in all the awesome ideas we did during the event, so keep the website on your radar!

 

D. Coming Out Comics

We were hoping to put out a Zine of Coming out comics/stories by the end of this semester but so far have only received a couple of submissions. But the submissions we have gotten have been GREAT! So we’d really like to get more so we can have enough content for a full zine. If you’re interested in sharing your story (anonymity welcome) see here for more details!

That’s all for now! Much Love! xxoo