Tell me you didn’t know.

Pretend it’s not happening.

Block your ears to their pleading

Cover your eyes so you cannot see them

Put up fences to keep your distance

Close your mind to stop thoughts

Oranienburg

Auschwitz

Dachau

Manus Island

Nauru

Christmas Island – a gift from you

Tell yourself you’re not responsible

Tell yourself it’s all their fault

Try not to see the children’s faces

Try not to think about the children

Try not to hear them

You will write your own history of this time

And they will write theirs

For those wondering about what is really happening on Manus Island I encourage you to look at the report by Mark Davis, a reporter from SBS. It’s one of the most disturbing reports about asylum seekers I’ve ever seen.

One man is dead. 77 are injured.  Several are missing in the jungle with possible injuries

People working for the facility (the Australian guards) have been evacuated to the boat provided for their safety, leaving the asylum seekers without protection from the mobs of locals and PNG police and militia who broke in to the prison.

It seems like the scenes we see played out in Afghanistan, or the Congo, or Sudan. The exception being that WE are the care givers here! WE abduct these men and hold them hostage on Manus and now we’ve left them to a fate, decided by disgruntled locals and underpaid local police.

The Government tells us:

 WE are in charge.

WE decide what happens to the asylum seekers who seek our help

WE have a duty to protect our sovereignty and our borders.

IT DOES NOT TALK ABOUT:

OUR  duty of care.

OUR signature ratifying the right to seek asylum and our DUTY to provide shelter and assistance.

Our willingness to use our navy and military for political point-scoring.

Our willingness to turn a blind eye…

Our desire to punish the weak and desperate.

The lies it tells us and the vilification it perpetrates on those who speak up.

The crimes it commits in our name.

What is happening on Manus Island is a crime. We are breaching our international obligations and allowing people in our care and protection to be killed and beaten, or to run for their lives in terror.

WE ARE RESPONSIBLE!

It’s time to stop this moral emphysema. This decay of soul.

Time is running out for the men on Manus.

Tonight I wonder who will be waiting for them in the darkness with machetes.

A few days ago a young woman bared her soul to an audience of young people, all of whom were struggling with the burdens of being different in a world which does not tolerate difference.

She bared her soul before an audience of teachers and youth workers who spend their days trying to make a positive difference in the lives of young people who often feel so alienated that they resort to hiding or taking their own lives.

It is a brave thing to risk your career and the love of family and friends by being honest. But Ellen Page is not only brave. She is passionate and articulate and strong.

The world would be a wonderful place if it was the one she imagines possible.

No fear.

No hatred.

No violence.

            But kindness.

            And limitless potential.

            And above all, LOVE.

While she was speaking primarily to an American audience, her words ring like alarm bells, here, in this lucky country. In Australia today young people (and older people too) are marginalised because of difference. Some are pilloried by churches who claim to love them, some are bullied in schools which purport to be safe places, some are rejected by families who cannot accept their child was born to be an individual outside the average. And ALL are victimised by a government which, while it is happy to take their taxes like every other citizen, will refuse them the same rights as other citizens, such as the right to marry.

It's Mardigras season here in Sydney.

Time to dust off the sequins and add some colour to our ordinary lives. And isn't that what we all crave? A life which is colourful and rich?

It's about time we told young people: those who are lesbian, gay, bi, transgender and intersex, that we are grateful for the colour they add to our lives. Grateful for the joy they bring. Grateful that they remind us of what community means, grateful that they have enough faith in us to change and become more open and honest and decent.

For decency is not about sex. It's about how we treat each other and whether we have respect for the rights of all, even the most disadvantaged.

So for all the young people who are struggling with who they are and how they are treated, I want you to know I stand with Ellen Page - you are not alone. Have hope that your life will be happy and that you will find people who love you just as you are. For you are worthy of love -  just as you are.

And for the adults who forget what love can do and how good it makes us all feel, take a moment to look at this speech.

You can watch her speech for yourself on this link

http://youtu.be/ORlnnpm5rC8