Weekend Wrap for 27 April 2025

Karinna Saxby, Mo Hammoud & Ruth McNair: The government has pledged $10 million for inclusive LGBTQIA+ health care. Here’s what that means
"Last week, the federal government announced a $10 million commitment to make Medicare more inclusive for LGBTQIA+ Australians. It aims to improve their access to “inclusive, culturally safe primary care” through training and accreditation for GPs, nurses and other health-care providers. ... Many LGBTQIA+ Australians lead happy and healthy lives. But, unfortunately, a disproportionate number experience significantly poorer health outcomes compared to the general population. LGBTQIA+ Australians are more likely to experience depression, anxiety and psychological distress. They also have higher rates of suicidal thoughts, self-harm and suicide. Many of these health inequalities stem from experiences of discrimination and stigma. These can lead LGBTQIA+ people to avoid health services for routine as well as preventive care (such as screening and regular check-ups)." (22 Apr 2025)
Read more at The Conversation

Neil Foster: The meaning of “sex” – in the UK and Australia
"A high profile decision from the UK Supreme Court this week, For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers [2025] UKSC 16 (16 April 2025) ('FWS'), holds that the word 'sex' as used in the UK anti-discrimination legislation the Equality Act 2010 (UK) ('the EA 2010'), means biological sex, and that the term does not change its meaning in relation to those who have obtained a gender recognition certificate ('GRC') under the Gender Recognition Act 2004 (UK) ('the GRA 2004'). The question that the court had to address was whether references to 'sex', 'women' and 'men' in the EA 2010 included those who held GRC’s and had an 'acquired' or 'certificated' sex. After an extensive review of the general provisions of the discrimination law, the court unanimously concluded that a GRC did not have the effect of deeming someone to have changed their sex for the purposes of the EA 2010." (22 Apr 2025)
Read more at Law and Religion Australia

Frank Bongiorno: Albanese’s brand of cultural Catholicism harks back to an earlier Australia – but it’s also thoroughly modern
"The social justice tradition within the Catholic church – expressed most famously in Pope Leo XIII’s 1891 encyclical, Rerum Novarum, on the “rights and duties of capital and labour” – was one of the forces that led to Catholics gravitating to the party that Albanese would come to lead. Another was that Catholics were disproportionately working class. ... The result was a broad alignment of Labor with Catholicism and Liberal with Protestantism. As a working-class party, Labor still naturally attracted many Protestants as voters and parliamentarians, but it was disproportionately Catholic at least until 1955. ... The Protestant-Catholic divide now seems remote from present-day Australia, in which the number of people professing no religion at all rivals the number calling themselves Christian. ... Albanese’s evocation of a Catholic tribalism in his “three faiths” quip harks back to an earlier Australia. But his claim to a share in the broader cultural and political influence of Catholicism on Australian politics and society is thoroughly modern." (23 Apr 2025)
Read more at The Guardian

Chris Bonnor: A school debate that didn’t happen
"The likelihood that Australia’s public schools will be fully funded hasn’t eased growing discomfort about our failed hybrid public/private system. This became very evident following recent comments by NSW Education Secretary Murat Dizdar that our provision of private schools should be “debated and discussed”. The inevitable shock-horror response ran its course… but the issue shows no signs of going away. Dizdar’s comments were reasonable, and almost certainly reflect a quiet discomfort at the highest levels of government about our seriously segregated wider system of schools. Despite two decades of “reform”, it is still not delivering on the holy grail of excellence and equity. He is hardly alone in expressing concern. ... A serious debate is still possible and essential. There is a growing concern about how our school system creates winners and losers among kids, schools and communities based on family background and wealth. Our schools certainly have a very unequal obligation to serve them. The social hierarchy of schools in almost every community is evidence enough that our hybrid public/private school system just doesn’t work." (25 Apr 2025)
Read more at Pearls & Irritations

Paul Daley: While secularism is growing in Australia, Anzac commemorations remain fervently Christian
"As Australia’s first world war veterans (all dead now) fade from living memory, just as those of the second world war will too within a generation, commemoration of Anzac and its profound impact on Australian society and identity must surely evolve with the times. An abundance of Christianity in Anzac Day services stands to emotionally and culturally isolate more and more people. Many Christians, in their celebration of Jesus as a peacemaker, also feel uncomfortable about the pervasiveness of Christianity in military commemoration, not least Anzac and 11 November, Remembrance Day." (25 Apr 2025)
Read more at The Guardian