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Australian politics Victoria discrimination gay lesbian politics equal marriage equal rights - Rainbow Reporter

The 3 Most Important things you can do for Marriage - UPDATE

July 29th 2009 02:08
Equal Love


First , tell the Senate you support marriage equality

The deadline to make a submission to the enquiry has now been extended to August 28th. Submissions can be as long or as short as you wish so long as you say why you support same sex marriage.

Here's how Really Long Link - you can either write your own submission or just sign the Australian Marriage Equality submission.


Second, come along to your local rally for marriage equality on August 1st. There's a motion supporting equal marriage before the Labor Party conference, so politicians will be watching the numbers closely. If you stay away they will think you support the existing ban on equal marriage.

Third, the Australian Christian Lobby are mounting a major offensive to block discussion of marriage equality at the Labor conference.

For a list of ALP National Conference delegates and information on how to lobby them visit
Really Long Link

For more information contact Alex Greenwich on 0421 316 335.

Updated rally details:

Perth:
WA Community Forum on Relationship recognition Saturday August 1st 2:00pm to 5:00PM, University of Western Australia UWA

Families for Freedom and Community Support Day
Sunday 16th of August, 11:00am to 2:00pm
Cottesloe Foreshore, WA

Really Long Link or Keegan Martens

martek01@student.uwa.edu.au 0424 594 417
Facebook: Really Long Link

Sydney:
Rally at Town Hall from Saturday, 12pm and March to the Sydney Convention Centre at Darling Harbour for a mass illegal wedding ceremony and to protest outside the National Labor Conference, demanding the Rudd government repeal the ban on Same Sex Marriage.

For more information, to get involved or to get married please call Ben Cooper
0412325231, email at ben8721@hotmail.com or check out
www.caah.org.au/nda
Facebook: Really Long Link

Lismore – Northern NSW:
Rally at 12pm, Saturday August 1st starts at Spinks Park aka Lismore Transit Centre, Molesworth St and March to the Winsome Hotel, Bridge St North Lismore where an after party will be held from 1:30pm

For more info or to get involved call Sean Rich 0266221555 between 9am & 5pm or alternatively email at scrawny_seany@hotmail.com
Facebook: Really Long Link

Canberra:
Meet at Garema Place, 1pm on August 1st, where there will be a rally followed by a march to Bob McMullen's office.

For more information or to get involved please check out www.cuaction.org/ or contact

John Kloprogge act@equallove.info 0422 913 942

Brisbane:
The Brisbane rally will be held at 1pm on August 1st at Queens Park.

To get involved, please email jessicapayne86@hotmail.com or call 0430375326. You can also check out the website at www.arcg.com.au

Adelaide:
The Adelaide rally is hosted by the South Australian Queer Lobby
Meet at Parliament House, corner of North Terrace and King William St, Adelaide, at 11am.
We will hold a demonstration at Parliament House, and then march to Barr Smith Lawns, University of Adelaide, where we will hold a picnic/bbq and speeches.

There will also be an after-party at Mars Bar.
To get involved or for more information phone Jason Virgo 0432 694 680 or email: saqueerlobby@gmail.com

Melbourne:
This year’s rally is on August 1st from 1pm at Federation Square

For more information, to get involved or to get married, please visit www.equallove.info or contact Tim Wright directly contact@equallove.info
0400 967 233

Hobart:
The Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby (TGLRG) will rally and be launching a petition for Equal Same-Sex Marriage at their Salamanca stall at 11am on Saturday August 1st.
For further information and to get involved please visit www.tglrl.org.au or email rodney.croome@tglrg.org or call 0409 010 668
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A Gay Christmas List

November 23rd 2008 01:56
Kevin Rudd
Hey, look, I can do this 'blessing' thing, too!!


Santa Kev is on track to deliver my Christmas present: the Omnibus Bill removing the discrimination against same-sex couples identified by the Same Sex: Same Entitlements report. A big thank you to the Australian Human Rights Commission, to the government for keeping its promises, and to everyone working towards equality. But there’s lots of other things on my list for Santa Kev.

Last minute present for 2008: fix up benefits and entitlements. If we’re in a relationship, from July our entitlement will be calculated on our income as a couple. If I’m on benefit and partnered with a high earner, Centrelink will give me less money, or maybe none at all. If we’re both on benefit, we’ll drop to the couple rate. It’s going to be a struggle.

I’m not asking for a continuation of the special treatment we’ve had up to now. Instead, lift everybody’s benefits to a level we can actually live on. We’re with the old people and the disabled and everyone else on this.

The gift you left out this year: private same-sex superannuation. Your reforms only helped 10% of us – those in Commonwealth superannuation schemes. For the 90% of us with private super, you left it up to the funds to decide whether they could afford to treat us equally. We have to ask them if they do, and if they don’t, move our money to one that does – and hope they don’t change their minds later.

Next years BIG present: new anti-discrimination laws. State anti-discrimination laws cover sexuality, but they don’t work very well. I know from experience that under Victorian law it’s very difficult to prove discrimination. The process is slow, complex, expensive, and bureaucratic.

And there’s a huge loophole. You can discriminate against GLBTI people if 'the discrimination is necessary for the ... [offender] to comply with the ... [offender’s] genuine religious beliefs or principles'. Other state anti-discrimination laws contain similar loopholes, though none so obscenely wide.

This legalises discrimination in ‘religious’ schools, universities and hospitals, all paid work arrangements, the provision of goods and services and all other areas covered by the Act, in adoption, employment, medical services, education, training, and housing. All these ‘religious’ businesses – including the well-known food company Sanitarium – are also tax-exempt. It’s OK – and tax-free - to be a bigot, so long as you’re a religious bigot. That can’t be right.

Please fix up Commonwealth anti-discrimination law so that it includes discrimination on the grounds of sexuality, overrides all those confusing state laws, and cuts out the ‘religious’ exemptions.

A little something for the kids: make sure the new national curriculum includes GBLTI issues, for example, in history, culture and sex and relationship classes. We’re sick of being the invisible Australians.

The “Daddy, Daddy, can I please have a pony NOW?” present: marriage. Of which I’ve written more than enough already.

I know this looks pushy. I haven’t even got this year’s present and already I’m asking for 2009. But this way you’ll get my letter before anyone elses!!

Oh, and one more thing. Tell those whingers from the CMST (church, mosque, synagogue, temple) lobby they have to play nice next year or you’ll take away their lucrative tax exemptions and government contracts and give them to somebody who deserves them (hint)!!
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Education Minister Backs Gay Marriage

August 4th 2008 00:25
Bronwyn Pike
Bronwyn didn't pike it


The numbers may have been down – only about 300 turned out for this year’s Melbourne Equal Love Rally, well down on previous years – but two facts made it a memorable occasion.

The first was the large number of young people taking part. We frequently hear complaints that marriage is a side issue and a waste of time, and anyway the younger generation don’t want it.

But for the first time the rally was composed mainly of young people – the older generation stayed indoors, no doubt put off by the gloomy weather.

I spoke to quite a few people who have been in previous years, and they gave various reasons for not attending – not interested in marrying, no point now the Rudd government is already moving on equality, ‘Oh, that’s today, is at?”, and, “I’m off to church.” Well, it was a Sunday.

So I asked a few of the people at the rally – which seemed to be well supplied with people who called me ‘comrade’ – why they were there.

Some, predictably, want to get married. The comrades, equally predictably, said they were not in favour of participating in an oppressive anachronistic hetero-normative institution themselves, but equality demands all should have access to it if they want it (and much more in the same vein). Remembering my student days, it’s a fair bet the latter will be the one’s who end up selling life assurance and/or herbal slimming products to pay for their McMansion in the suburbs.

Now in it’s fourth year, the event has lost the passionate anger generated not so much by John Howards commando raid on the marriage act as by Labors betrayal in support of it.

And the sea of red balloons on Parliament steps which represented its high-water mark has now been replaced by a drably dressed group of the incurably activist.

In fact, the whole (much shortened) event has become as ritualistic as the ceremony to which it seeks to gain access.

So the second remarkable fact didn’t initially register when State Education Minister Bronwyn Pike’s voice drifted across the crowd, announcing, "I support same-sex marriage, I have for many, many years. I believe that a civilised society is a society that is inclusive and is a society that affords the same human rights, the same access to justice, the same equality under the law for every single one of its citizens.”

It was Bronwyn Pike who engineered the pledge with which Labor went to the last election, to donate $250k to GLBTI radio station Joy 94.9 to fund its re-equipment and the recent move to proper premises. The mothers of gay sons tend to understand these things.

To hear a senior Labor politician break ranks with the hitherto rock-solid party line and endorse gay marriage leads one to hope some of her federal colleagues may be emboldened to follow suit.

After all, polls show around 57% of Australians support gay marriage, a higher percentage than in many other countries at the time they introduced gay marriage.

Activist John Klopprogge said, "We know that a huge number of Labor parliamentarians, state and federal, support marriage equality. It will only be matter of time before more come out for equality.”
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