Star of the Sex Party

MELISSA Star believes passionately in voluntary euthanasia, the decriminalisation of marijuana, marriage equality and better sex education in our schools – all values that happen to align with the platforms of the Australian Sex Party (ASP), for which she will stand as a candidate in Melbourne Ports at the upcoming federal election.

But while her progressive world view is not unique in Melbourne’s Jewish community, her life story and the experiences that inform them are.

Born male, Star, 37, moved to Australia via new Zealand from Belarus with her family when she was three. She grew up in a traditional household and was a student at Masada College in Sydney, but from a very young age Star knew she was different. As a youngster she was accepted by the girls at her school as one of them, but as she grew and developed she became increasingly isolated. She didn’t fit in with the girls and was shunned by the boys.

At 24, Star went to Thailand for sex reassignment surgery, and her life began again in earnest.

“I spent a big part of my childhood standing in shul in the Amidah, asking Hashem, ‘please let me wake up as a girl. I’ll find a nice husband, I’ll have lots of kids’,” Star recalls.

She believes the way to counter the sort of prejudice she experienced as a child, which included a brick being thrown at her head, is to educate young people, something the ASP holds up as a key platform. “One of the main reasons the Sex Party is called the Sex Party is we want to destigmatise sex. We’re not telling people who you should have sex with or who you shouldn’t have sex with, but we want sex to be a topic that is openly talked about – openly, respectfully, without stigma, without shame.

“The shame and stigma about sex enables paedophiles. The shame and stigma about sex causes depression in gay and lesbian youth. The shame and stigma about sex causes transsexual kids and adults to feel that they don’t have a future and that, unfortunately, causes suicide, it causes self-harm, it causes depression.

Star says her party, which she describes as “socially progressive and economically responsible”, doesn’t have an official position on Israel, but having lived there for a year, she counts herself among the country’s staunch supporters.

ADAM KAMIEN

Sex Party candidate Melissa Star.