hey hey! ho ho! homophobia's got to go!

As I mentioned a few days ago here, 1 August was Australia’s National Day of Action for Same-Sex Marriage.

Demonstrations were held in every capital city of Australia as our community called for the right to be legally married. Zanne and I were stoked to attend Brisbane's rally - we waved our placards and screamed our lungs out for same-sex marriage.

The result of our collective efforts?:

"Gay rights advocates lost a backroom battle at the ALP National Conference to advance the recognition of same-sex couples.

Instead Labor agreed to a compromise removing the explicit definition of marriage being between a man and a woman from its national platform.

And across the country Labor will continue towards a nationally-consistent framework for the registration of same-sex unions."

Read The Age's full article here.

It is a disappointing result however, as Corey Irlam from the Australian Coalition for Equality notes, it is a positive change:

"For the first time ever the Australian Labor Party has the words lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex in their platform."

We have a ways to go, but I believe we'll get there eventually. Why? Well, because figures suggest the majority of Australians support same-sex marriage, and further, because last Saturday there were hundreds of people in Brisbane all passionately yelling:

What do we want?
Same-sex marriage!
When do we want it?
Now!
And how we gonna get it?

Fight for it!

And I honestly believe we're all gonna fight for it. As I mentioned here peeps, write to the government, take action!

Shan

PS. Kat of Rock n Roll Bride has also blogged about Australia’s National Day of Action for Same-Sex Marriage. Read her post and see photos of the demonstations in Melbourne here.

please let us marry

Australia’s National Day of Action for Same-Sex Marriage is 1 August 2009, which is tomorrow! Read more about the issue of Same-Sex Marriage in Australia here and here.

Per the Equal Love website: “the National Day of Action has traditionally been the anniversary of the federal government’s same-sex marriage ban. But this year it will be two weeks earlier – to coincide with the Australian Labor Party’s triennial national conference.

Party heavyweights will gather from July 30th to August 1st in Sydney at the Convention and Exhibition Centre to revise the party’s national platform so that it is “a modern, up-to-date document”.

This is an ideal opportunity for the Equal Love Campaign to pressure the governing party to change its outdated and discriminatory policy on same-sex marriage.

It is unlikely that the federal government will support marriage equality so long as the Labor Party platform clearly rejects it. This is why the national conference is so important.

By focusing attention on this triennial event, Equal Love demonstrators will see how their voices can directly make a difference. Our protests will have a more visible and immediate purpose. In addition, there will be plenty of opportunities for media coverage.”

However, as the ABC reports, “the move to push the issue at the party's national conference has hit a major stumbling block: the Prime Minister.

"We went to the last election being very clear-cut about our position on marriage, under the Marriage Act, being between a man and a woman," Mr Rudd said.”

I agree with Equal Love’s statement that: "the federal government, by opposing same-sex marriage, is effectively sanctioning homophobia".

There are protests happening in all Australia's capital cities, read the list here. Please join in the demonstrations! Help to gain marriage equality!

The info for Brisbane is as follows:

DATE: Saturday 1 August, 2009, 1.00pm

VENUE: Queens Park

CONTACT: Jessica Payne, jessicapayne86@hotmail.com

You will see us there for sure :-)

If you're unable to attend a demonstration, why not write to the government?

Australian Marriage Equality has some general ideas for topics to include in an email or letter. The statement that seems to resonate with me the most is:

The right to marry gives greater social and legal security to your family. Denying this to some families while giving it to others creates insecurity within society and weakens the fundamental Australian values of equality and belonging.

Kelly and Sam on their blog, The Muriels, have written a similar call to arms. However, they also include a list of the email addresses of all Australian Labor Party Conference Delegates for your easy reference.

Take action peeps!

An interesting point before I finish…

Equal Love notes: “Some people believe same-sex couples should ask for civil unions instead of same-sex marriage. But the Equal Love campaign firmly believes that there is no substitute for equality in marriage...

If Australia establishes a national civil union scheme instead of removing marriage discrimination, we will be entrenching the second-class status of same-sex couples, opening them up to greater discrimination, and defying a global trend towards full legal and social equality.”

We are entitled to full citizenship, to equality, to respect. We are entitled to celebrate our love for our partner, just as our straight counterparts are. Marriage is a basic human right.

I wonder how Mr Rudd would feel if he couldn’t be married?

Shan

PS. Remember that marriage in Australia is a civil institution, not a religious one.