Conservative Closet Case Takes One for the Team

Fellow Members of the Intellectual Elite,

As some of you would know there is nothing that amuses me more than to see yet another lesbigay moderate hit the political skids and so it is with not inconsiderable pleasure that I relate to you the sorry tale of the Honourable Mark Brindal MP, Member for Unley in the Lower House of the Parliament of the State of South Australia (SA). It has been revealed that this long serving conservative parliamentarian and Minister of the Crown has been engaged in a sordid sexual encounter with an unnamed 24 year old male. Something that no doubt came as quite a shock to his wife and children.

As a result of these revelations, the Member for Unley has announced the end of his political career. The youth in question was described as having a mild intellectual disability. He had been living in a group home but since this matter arose has gone into hiding. Members of the Adelaide gay community have suggested the young man was well known to them.

Firstly a little lesson on the unusual nomenclature of Australian politics for my international friends, particularly those from the US. In Australia the term "liberal" refers exclusively to persons from the conservative side of politics. What Americans (and others) might understand as "liberal" is properly labelled as "progressive" in Australia. The largest conservative political party down here is the Liberal Party of Australia (LPA). The Liberals claim that they combine traditional conservatism with the ideas of John Stuart Mills to produce a "broad centre right" movement.

This is of course utter fucking bullshit. Any followers of Mills that existed in the LPA have almost all been exterminated by the screeching hordes of the christian right and the economic rationalist pointy-heads. Those that remain are powerless. Today's LPA is firmly in the grip of the evangelicals and anti-worker free marketeers.

Now that we have that out of the way let us return to the subject at hand. The Honourable Mark Brindal was elected to the SA Parliament in 1989 for the SA Liberal Party. He served in various Cabinet positions including as Minister for Resources and as the Minister responsible for vocational education. As you can see from his official Parliamentary webpage he is a respected member of the community. Involved with all manner of quality organisations and a player in the Anglican Church. In 2002 (his party now in opposition) he was unceremoniously dumped from the Liberal Party front bench.

Suddenly Brother Brindal discovered a interest in the rights of "same-sex attracted people" as he so lovingly refers to us. In 2004 Brindal introduced legislation (the Civil Union Bill 2004) into the SA Parliament seeking to establish a state based system of "civil unions" for homosexuals that would afford us many of the privileges of marriage. My views on gay marriage and same sex unions have been aired on this site previously.

Naturally, the moderate lesbigays (ever craving the approval of the heterosexist majority) fell upon Brindal with delight. Rodney Croome a noted gay activist and architect of the decriminalisation of the homosexuality in Tasmania even organised a campaign in support of Brindal's bill.

This is most interesting, not just because Brindal's passion for buggery has been publicly revealed but because he comes from the hard line right-wing faction of the SA Liberals which surround the notorious Senator Nick Minchin. Minchin is a senior member of the Australian Government and noted proponent of family values and dry economic politics. When questioned on his curious support for gay unions Brindal described himself as a "progressive conservative".

My problem with Brindal is not his love of rough trade nor even his support of same sex unions as an issue. It is his egregious manipulation of queer people for perverse political gain. No one should believe that this odious fellow has the interests of our people in mind. His motivation was malice. He set about to embarrass the factional warlords of his own party for dumping him from a leadership role in the SA and used queers as his cats paw.

I'm not condemning Brindal for having a sexual relationship with much younger man with a mild disability. We know little of the youth in question and I will not buy into the argument that people with disabilities are passive beings unable to engage in or enjoy consensual sex.

The tedious Sydney Star Observer (a moderate lesbigay rag) described Brindal as a "good" Liberal. But is he really that good? Was the contributor to the SSO made that claim aware of Brindal's 1991 effort to wind back a woman's right to safe and accessible abortion. In those days our Brindal was the captive of the hard christian right.

In addition to this, in 2001 as SA Minister with responsibility for vocational education (an essential source of skill development for working class people) Brindal caved into the nefarious funding wishes of his conservative masters in Canberra and was roundly criticised by the federal education union for this.

Interviewed on Australian radio (9th August 2005), Brindal whined and moaned about the journalists who revealed him. He made baseless claims of extortion and blackmail against his young lover's foster father. He described himself as ashamed of his actions. He lamented that his marriage was over and his first concern was for his wife and children. He made no mention of the fate of the lad he had been fucking - but then he would be expendable, wouldn't he?

Brindal is a cheap and nasty conservative who attempted to highjack the Homosexual Agenda for his personal advancement. His perfidy has terminated his career and I for one am delighted.

IN SOLIDARITY

MtD