Dear Yogis

My latest painting (unfinished).  For those who don’t recognise the face (or the wild hair), it is the French writer Collette.  You might have seen her younger self  portrayed by Kiera Knightly in the film “Collette”.  She looks an impressive person, and I am sure that she was.

I was very disappointed when i learned that in Victoria LGBTIQ+ people can marry, but gay women cannot legally assemble in a single sex space.  In contrast to the Laird and Peel Hotels in Victoria which have been granted single sex exemptions.  I am not a lesbian (at the moment) however in response to this discrimination and to bring it to your attention, I have decided to paint a series of women – George Sand, Collette, Gertrude Stein and of course Fran Lebowitz.

Do you remember the days in the ‘70s, ‘80s and early ‘90s when there was a thriving and very colourful lesbian community in Victoria (especially in Melbourne). However, we have witnessed the demise of our culture and lesbian space since the early 1990s; either made extinct or subsumed under the mantle of “queer”. Many interesting groups have been banned from gathering, or even performing on the streets – not just gay women.  Why are we so afraid?  This is in part because of the rise of mainstream LGBTIQ+ and also because of diversity and inclusion laws which currently make it illegal for lesbians to hold public female-only functions without applying for an exemption with the Human Rights Commission.  For goodness sake, they are not exactly terrorists, or have I missed something!

In the early 2000s, lesbians applied for exemptions in order to run lesbian-only events. These were not successful.  The process became very stressful and expensive, and so they gave up.  It was easier to go underground and become invisible and organise events through a closed network just as the gay and lesbian community used to do pre-1970s.   So for the past twenty odd years, the lesbian community in Victoria has existed underground.

Mainstream LGBTIQ+ organisations and Government have force-teamed them with people of the opposite-sex. There was no consultation or negotiation in this process. Lesbians are not able to legally come together, as a minority group, to socialise and have their own culture and events. This is in contrast to gay men with The Laird and Peel Hotels in Victoria being granted ongoing single-sex exemptions,  trans-only events, which are widespread.  Google it – add your voice to the theirs to get this stupid law overturned (or at least modified).  Whatever they call it,  it is discrimination….

I thought we had grown up enough to deal with difference, to allow people to lawfully co-exist peacefully. It seems I was wrong.

YOGA CLASSES AND STUDIO TIMES…..  CLASSES STARTED MONDAY THE 8TH JANUARY.  

TAROT AND GITA READINGS – BY APPOINTMENT. Email me:  yogafirst2@bigpond.com

ZOOM GITA Our first for the year…Monday  evening at 6.30pm.    Although there is no charge, if you can, I would appreciate a small donation (or a big one!).  To donate go to the web site www.yogabeautiful.com.au and click on PAY VIA PAY PAL

Windarring Yoga –  Tues. 1pm a joint class –  Kyneton and Gisborne combined.

STUDIO YOGA WOODEND: Monday Hatha 1pm (full) Mon. 2.15, Wednesday Restorative 1pm  TEACHER TRAINING Sunday 21st January at 2.30

LITTLE STUDIO/GALLERY:  Opening PREVIEW Friday the 9th February at 5.30 – all my students (and friends) welcome.  I will have my newest series showing there in the original with prints and cards.  Especially a series on waxed tea bags of the Dalai Lama. The large paintings of Collette and Krishna will both be finished and available at this time also.

THE YOGA LUNCHEON: Will update as soon as we have a date for the next one.

SEE YOU IN THE STUDIO and in the gallery.

NAMASTE – JAHNE