This is the epitome of standing your ground and is absolutely admirable. Canberra doctor Clara Tuck Meng Soo has returned her Order of Australia (OAM) medal in protest against the Australia Day honour this year bestowed on former tennis champion Margaret Court. The honour Court received is considered as the highest honour you can receive in Oz. Court is now a Pentecostal church and has made public statements which are anti- same sex marriage and anti- transgender. Soo, a GP who received the OAM back in 2016 for her work with LGBT people and those with HIV and drug dependencies. Soo was also one of the first GPs in Australia to go undergo gender transition back in 2018, and has written to the Governor-General David Hurley that she is returning her OAM.
Court has since responded to the criticisms of her receiving Australia’s highest honour to ABC News:
“I’m not going to change my opinions and views, and I think it’s very important for freedom of speech that we can say our beliefs,”
I feel that Court is totally missing the point. She is ignorant that as an Anglo-white woman she has a lot more privileges in Australia that people who are not in her position don’t. Also, “freedom of speech” comes with responsibilities and to discriminate against the LGBT community is discrimination. And yet she receives an award for being a homophobe and transphobe?
Here is what Dr. Soo had to say about her stance to ABC News:
“I have both professional experience as well as lived experience of the communities that Mrs Margaret Court makes these derogatory and hurtful remarks about,”
“She says that she has a right to free speech, and I’m not saying she can’t say what she believes in, but she’s using her position as a public figure to promote her views and I think that such behaviour should not be encouraged.
“By elevating her, the Council for the Order of Australia is actually sending a message that they condone and support such behaviour.”
“There are very high suicide rates among transgender youth and one of the ways that we can reduce that is by affirming their gender choice and gender, and the statements and actions by someone like Margaret Court makes their life worse for them,”
Let’s applaud Dr. Soo for doing what is right and just.
Images via ABC News
To read the full article, please click on: Canberra doctor returns OAM in protest against Margaret Court 2021 Australia Day honour
great and kudos to clara. we need to say no to bigotry!!!