The Australian Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, is mind-boggling. The very week she tackles a long-sighted politically difficult subject: pricing carbon in order to reduce climate change, she engages in base pettiness against gays: again.
This issue has arisen before. But it’s astonishing that they continue to enforce this arbitrary view when every single section of the governing party has the opposite approach: they have all endorsed equality. And on the specific issue of Certificates of No Impediment to marriage, a broad Parliamentary Committee clearly said in 2009 there is no justification for continuing the policy.
On the road- excuse the lame post. After approximately one million celebrities joined a massive grassroots campaign, New York state finally, just (33 to 29) fulfilled Governor Andrew Cuomo’s promise to bring equality to New York. By far the biggest state yet to be equal (California soon to be back on top we hope)
One person was a man, in the traditional sense, the other was a member of the Pakistan’s ancient hijra community – a third gender that Pakistan’s courts (not known for their tolerance and leniency) have ordered be recognised as a third gender (a bit like neighbouring Nepal).
I can’t find any proof that real progress is being made for the hijra community or the gay and lesbian community in Pakistan. And there’s little word on what’s happened to all those arrested in May 2010 at the same sex wedding. But here is an excellent article from Mustafa Qadri on the situation faced by the hijra.
I had trouble tracking down a decent quality version of this video of Zach Wahls, the 19 year old son of a lesbian couple from Iowa. But even though it’s a bit late, I think it still has to go up here, because he’s so damn good.
My favourite quote is at the end: “Not once in my 19 years has anyone independently guessed that I was raised by two women. You know why? Because the sexual orientation of my parents has absolutely zero to do with the content of my character.”
A fascinating graphic above from the news.com.au chain of papers, which dominate the Australian newspaper market.
This shows clearly what Julia Gillard has been worried about: a wall of opposition to marriage equality in outer suburban – the swinging seats in nearly all elections.
Surprising the greatest opposition comes from the Labor heartland of the Labor-leaning city of Sydney [think deep blue state] (though perhaps it is not surprising when one examines the often value-free, argument-free zone that is NSW Labor machine politics)
THE GOOD NEWS: 149 out of 150 electorates have a majority in support of marriage equality. It does not get more comprehensive than that, and the news comes from a massive sample of 148,000 people.
1. Prop 8
2. Don’t Ask Don’t Tell
3. New Hampshire drama on the horizon
PROP 8 NEWS
A pro-equality Governor (Jerry Brown) and a pro-equality Attorney-General (Kamala Harris) were elected in November in California. So far, so good. The Californian Government will not be defeding Prop 8 in court.
That doesn’t mean the court appeal will go away: it’s before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco from December 6.
This is an appeal against U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker’s Aug. 4 2010 ruling that Prop 8 is constitutional. In the first hour, the parties will address the question of whether any entity has legal standing to appeal Walker’s ruling, seeing as the Californian govt and country clerks refuse to do so.
If the random appellants do not achieve ‘standing’ the case is over and Walker’s ruling will take effect. Or the parties could appeal the standing issue to the U.S. Supreme Court.
2. DON’T ASK DON’T TELL Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repeal, round 2, starts Dec. 2 in the U.S. Senate when Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee. They will discuss the Pentagon’s massive survey of troops, which is to be released tomorrow, Nov. 30.
3. NEW HAMPSHIRE
Are you about to go back to inequality in New Hampshire just a year after the leap forward? Yes - if some Republican legislators get their way. Republicans now control both state Houses of Parliament. Bills already have been filed to repeal the marriage-equality law and to amend the state constitution to prohibit same-sex couples from marrying.
“Republicans now have a veto-proof majority in the Legislature, and the newly elected House speaker, state Rep. Bill O’Brien, is a staunch opponent of marriage equality,” said Lee Swislow, executive director of Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders. “But we know there are many New Hampshire Republicans who support marriage equality and we’re looking forward to working with them.” Thanks to Rex Wockner for pointing me to this info.
Australian Senator Penny Wong with partner Sophie Allouache
What a great day!
Yet another state branch of the Australian Labor Party backs gay marriage - this time South Australia, birthplace of Australia’s gay rights movement in the 1960s. So much for the nonsense that supporting gay marriage is about this government being run by the Greens; no, it is finally a case of the Government being run by the people.
Most newsworthy of course is not the motion backing marriage, but the fact that the much vilified Penny Wong spoke in support of it.
Wong said: “There has been some commentary which has confused my position of not commenting publicly on this issue with my position on the actual issue itself … I have had the opportunity to advocate for equality at the highest levels of our party and within our party processes, as I do today. And I will do so again at the next national conference.” She then pointedly added: ” Talking about change is not the same as delivering it.”
Yes, she should have done this ages ago, but this is a very welcome move. And it should put all the sniping and vilifiers back in their place. Wong faced a backlash several months back that went beyond criticism and verged into racism and stupidity – now she is out and proud on the side of equality and this will really shift the debate inside the Labor party.
The motion reads: “This convention calls upon the ALP national conference to amend the platform to support the legal right of all adult couples in Australia to be married if they so choose, and for that marriage to be recognised and registered by law in Australia, regardless of the sexual orientation, or gender, of the parties to the marriage.”
What does this mean? We probably won’t be getting marriage equality before 2012 – but this might change – but we will almost certainly be getting it in 2012 at the latest. That does not apply if there is an early election and the Government is wiped out. But it probably isn’t going to do much worse than in August 2010 and any loss of support will probably go to the Greens anyway.
This is encouraging, but it also shows how much work there is to do … especially in regional Australia… please let me know who else should be on there.
A toast to Pink – and her lesbian best friend and her wedding for being the inspiration for this song! Tips and solidarity for coping with gay and lesbian inequality don’t get much cooler than this.
