Will you be attending the Tropical Pride Festival in Cairns from September 19th-21st?

STAR:"Why do you work so hard for the rights of same-sex couples????

"I've always had an active social conscience," replies Kerryn.

"The areas of concern highlighted during my career have all been about human rights ? indigenous health, the plight of asylum seekers, and, of course, the completely unacceptable treatment before the law of gays and lesbians."

"I come from an educational background," says Jackie, “where even today it is legal for private schools to sack teachers because of their sexuality. People in these situations are afraid to come out. I have a friend who lost her job. Personally, I resigned due to subtle discrimination when Kerryn and I were outed by a Sydney newspaper."

STAR: "You've had some very public stoushes with (former Minister for Health) Michael Wooldridge. It would be difficult to engage an individual like Wooldridge over government policies. But surely it must be more difficult to continually fight against something as faceless and pervasive as entrenched homophobia?"

"Absolutely," says Kerryn. “Although you'll recall that I kept my comments focused on the issues, and it was the minister who kept trying to personalise the debate. But in answer to your question, yes. It is always difficult to fight for human rights, and very easy for the powers that be to create an 'Us and Them' approach. And if the 'Them' ? the 'Enemy', whether they be refugees or indigenous people or individuals with different sexualities ? remain invisible, then this divisive approach is all the more successful."

STAR: At some point in this detailed response, the voices become indistinguishable. I'm at one end of the line, and Kerryn and Jackie are on the other, listening to me on their speaker phone and finishing each other's sentences. Their passion, their commitment to the cause, is palpable.

"So it is important," says one of them, "that we are visible. People think in terms of the personal, and if it's Auntie Mary or Bruce next door who is being discriminated against, ordinary people are more likely to fight the injustice."

"Because Kerryn is such a familiar figure on the Australian medical scene," says the other, "people were really supportive when we came out. Their attitude was 'If Kerryn Phelps is gay then it must be all right.’''

"We can't keep on being patient and grateful for small changes. We cannot allow all of the inequalities to be addressed piecemeal, by different governments at different times. We need to demand legislation right across the board that eliminates all forms ? including the 54 laws still current in South Australia ? that are in contravention of human rights."

"We're talking about the fundamental rights of individuals. Access to a partner's superannuation, for instance, should not depend on the existence of a piece of paper saying they've had sex with each other. What a joke! Politicians must see themselves as a whole lot of keystone cops, running around hitting people on the head to make themselves feel more important."

STAR: At the end of the interview, I thank them for their time.???

"It's an honour," they say, and they mean it. Blaze

Article reproduced with permission of BNews.