http://www.thepunch.com.au/author-bios/senthorun-raj/ Senthorun Raj (@senthorun) is the NSW President of Amnesty International Australia. He is an activist, writer and social networker with a passion for social justice, cultural studies and politics. He completed a Bachelor of Arts (Honours Class I and University Medal) majoring in Gender and Cultural Studies at the University of Sydney and is now finishing a law degree. His honours thesis examined constructions of sexuality and persecution in refugee law in Australia. Senthorun is currently working as the Senior Policy Advisor for the Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby (NSW). He writes regularly on matters relating to sexuality and politics, and has published papers on human rights, sexuality and refugee law, intimacy and citizenship, gay male domestic violence and racist humour. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/homophobia-is-the-hate-that-dares-speak-its-name/ The recent resurfacing of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill in Uganda, or the “Kill the Gays” Bill as it is notoriously referred to, has been a timely reminder of how homophobia remains a threat to human dignity. So how do sexuality, national politics and human rights align? In numerous places around the world, homosexuality remains a site of intense political and social anxiety. Despite sexual orientation becoming a valid focus of international human rights law, over 80 countries around the world continue to criminalise homosexuality. Uganda is now reconsidering legislation that would enhance the criminal penalties that already exist for people who engage consensual same-sex relationships. This may also include the death penalty for offences that are deemed to be of an “aggravated” nature. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Senthorun Raj) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/homophobia-is-the-hate-that-dares-speak-its-name/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/homophobia-is-the-hate-that-dares-speak-its-name/#item7735 Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:55:51 +0000 Senthorun Raj | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/facing-terror-violence-and-fear-join-the-queue/ Should we ban the live export of asylum seekers? In a compelling majority, the High Court seemed to think so, issuing a permanent injunction against the Commonwealth Government, barring them from pursuing the current proposal to trade asylum seekers with Malaysia. Despite numerous changes to the Migration Act over the decade to expand administrative power, the Act could not be used to justify the transaction of asylum seekers as if they were export goods. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Senthorun Raj) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/facing-terror-violence-and-fear-join-the-queue/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/facing-terror-violence-and-fear-join-the-queue/#item6620 Fri, 02 Sep 2011 19:50:39 +0000 Senthorun Raj | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/when-it-comes-to-marriage-justice-should-be-apolitical/ “This is a vote that is not about morality, that is not about religion. You can’t legislate morality, but you can legislate justice.” The words of Senator Eric Schneiderman, New York Attorney General, are a poetic reminder of why the New York Senate passed legislation allowing same-sex couples to marry. On Friday, New York became the sixth state in the US to remove discrimination in marriage laws, joining Iowa, Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut and New Hampshire. This decision comes amidst a range of local and international moves in the past month to recognise the civil rights of sexual and gender minorities. In a historic move, the majority of countries in the United Nations Human Rights Council passed a resolution condemning violence and discrimination against people on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Senthorun Raj) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/when-it-comes-to-marriage-justice-should-be-apolitical/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/when-it-comes-to-marriage-justice-should-be-apolitical/#item6163 Sun, 26 Jun 2011 19:43:01 +0000 Senthorun Raj | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/slutwalk-time-to-end-the-blame-game/ “If you take out uncovered meat and place it outside on the street, or in the garden or in the park, or in the backyard without a cover, and the cats come and eat it ... whose fault is it, the cats’ or the uncovered meat?” When Sheik Al-Hilali made these comments characterising the uncovered female body as meat to be consumed, he was brutally condemned. The public outcry was exceptional: the Sheik was imposing a set of archaic beliefs that had no place in a progressive Australia. Well, just how progressive are we? Such rhetoric is not confined to the auspices of Sharia law - it can be found in media reports, in political speeches, even judicial decisions.  The implication is always the same: women must manage their sexuality appropriately, or face the risk of violence. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Senthorun Raj) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/slutwalk-time-to-end-the-blame-game/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/slutwalk-time-to-end-the-blame-game/#item6064 Sun, 12 Jun 2011 19:45:26 +0000 Senthorun Raj | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Whats-bad-for-the-gays-is-bad-for-Uganda/ “I am a concerned Ugandan citizen because I…am worried that my children will be recruited to be homosexuals …I am worried that the future of Ugandan children is at stake.” WARNING: THIS VIDEO IS EXTREMELY GRAPHIC. The Punch, not the author, chose it to illustrate the disgraceful stance of some Ugandans on this issue. In October 2009, an Anti-Homosexuality Bill, or what has been internationally dubbed as the “Kill the gays” Bill, was introduced by David Bahati MP in Ugandan Parliament. The Bill strengthened the existing criminal penalties while increasing the sentences for certain kinds of consensual sexual “offences” between people of the same-sex. Much of the social and political obsession with the idea of “homosexuality” in Uganda disparately emerged as a product of British colonialism. “Sodomy” offences or “acts against the order of nature”, as they are commonly referred to, were introduced through colonialism as a way of policing all non-heterosexual or non-reproductive relationships. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Senthorun Raj) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Whats-bad-for-the-gays-is-bad-for-Uganda/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Whats-bad-for-the-gays-is-bad-for-Uganda/#item5804 Mon, 09 May 2011 19:40:18 +0000 Senthorun Raj | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Christian-lobby-chief-violates-the-true-Anzac-spirit/ ANZAC Day is a day for commemoration and celebration of Australian identity, so long as we remember the gays and the Muslims were never a part of this. Anzac Day has become much more than a day of commemorating a military campaign; it has become a national focal point through which we locate what it means to be “Australian.” While the notion of “Australian values” raises disparate and often romantic ideas of mateship, courage and loyalty, it is sometimes insidiously mobilised to express prejudices. Jim Wallace, Managing Director of the Australian Christian Lobby, made this point painfully clear when he lamented over Twitter  “that as we remember servicemen and women we remember [the] Australia they fought for - wasn’t gay marriage & Islamic!” feedback@thepunch.com.au (Senthorun Raj) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Christian-lobby-chief-violates-the-true-Anzac-spirit/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Christian-lobby-chief-violates-the-true-Anzac-spirit/#item5697 Mon, 25 Apr 2011 04:30:13 +0000 Senthorun Raj | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/faith-organisations-dining-out-on-discrimination-exemptions/ “It is not ideal that religious freedom is protected by so-called ‘exemptions and exceptions’ in anti-discrimination law, almost like reluctant concessions, crumbs from the secularists’ table.” Cardinal George Pell’s recent lament to Prime Minister Julia Gillard about the “secularists’ table” seems odd, given that religion still defines our nationhood. Just ask our atheist Prime Minister. It is hard to imagine then how exceptions and exemptions are metaphorical “crumbs”, when they have a vast reach in excluding minority groups in Australia. While each state and territory currently has anti-discrimination laws which protect against some forms of sexuality or gender identity discrimination, the inconsistency in terminology, and the wide-ranging exemptions (particularly for faith-based bodies) means there are considerable gaps in protecting the rights of individuals accessing health services, goods or services, aged care, employment and education. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Senthorun Raj) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/faith-organisations-dining-out-on-discrimination-exemptions/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/faith-organisations-dining-out-on-discrimination-exemptions/#item5574 Wed, 06 Apr 2011 19:45:20 +0000 Senthorun Raj | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/pray-away-the-gay-app-a-sign-of-deeper-bigotry/ “Homosexual tendencies (are) one of many conditions that beset fallen humanity.” According to Exodus International’s policy statements, those who embrace “homosexual behaviours” have lives that are “sinful” and “destructive”. Rather than simply condemn non-heterosexual desire, Exodus International (A Christian organisation that condemns homosexuality) adopts what they refer to as a ‘redemptive’ approach – seeking to ‘reorient’ the ‘fallen’. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Senthorun Raj) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/pray-away-the-gay-app-a-sign-of-deeper-bigotry/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/pray-away-the-gay-app-a-sign-of-deeper-bigotry/#item5426 Sun, 20 Mar 2011 20:00:31 +0000 Senthorun Raj | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/sexuality-and-religion-should-be-no-barrier-to-a-family/ Christian Democrat MLC Fred Nile addressed NSW Parliament yesterday, condemning the Adoption Amendment (Same-Sex Couples) Bill on the grounds it would threaten the fundamental rights of children. “Is this really an ideological issue or homosexuals demanding yet another human right?” For Mr. Nile, the debate is easily reduced to either ideological issues or gay rights. But where do children fit into the equation? We can talk about ‘the best interests of children’ and many in this debate claim to, but why are these claims often made in polemical rather than empirical terms. That is, maybe we should look to actual families rather than our ‘common sense’ fantasy of the ideal family. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Senthorun Raj) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/sexuality-and-religion-should-be-no-barrier-to-a-family/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/sexuality-and-religion-should-be-no-barrier-to-a-family/#item3946 Tue, 31 Aug 2010 19:35:14 +0000 Senthorun Raj | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-law-still-agrees-with-Wendy-Francis/ Legitimating gay marriage is like legalising child abuse’. Family First Senate candidate Wendy Francis’ comments on Twitter reiterate the homophobic anxieties towards same-sex parenting and marriage that continue to plague the political imagination in Australia. Ms Francis’ archaic commentaries reflect a traumatic history in which same-sex couples were not simply discriminated or alienated, but were produced as criminal deviants. Much of the rhetoric that connected pedophilia and homosexuality emerged in the early 20th century where psychological, legal and religious institutions claimed that being ‘gay’ was a perversion or a disorder. Francis’ comments recuperate this history in an extremely unpalatable way. While the comments may not have the same currency today, the homophobic rhetoric of ‘difference’ continues to be recycled today in different ways. Today, homosexuality is not a crime. However, the law uses sexuality to limit involvement in other social relationships. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Senthorun Raj) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-law-still-agrees-with-Wendy-Francis/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-law-still-agrees-with-Wendy-Francis/#item3766 Tue, 10 Aug 2010 03:25:00 +0000 Senthorun Raj | Author bios | The Punch