Posts Tagged: Adam Bandt gay marriage

Australia / Celebrities / Lesbian / Marriage — 3 Comments
18
Nov 10

DE ROSSI ATTACKS GILLARD; GREENS MOTION WINS IN PARLIAMENT

Portia DeRossi now Portia DeGeneres

The temperature is rising in Australia. There is nothing like a celebrity scorned and a minor party getting their way in Parliament to upset homophobic bliss.

Portia De Rossi told 702 ABC Radio Sydney that she expected Australia to be a world leader on the issue. ”I always thought Australia would pass this equal rights law long before America would,” she said.

Parliament voted 73-72 for MPs to gauge feelings among voters about gay weddings, which are currently banned under Australian law and opposed by both major parties.

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Australia / Campaigns / Politicians — 3 Comments
15
Nov 10

FINALLY THE AUSTRALIAN PARLIAMENT STARTS A REAL DEBATE

Stephen Jones MP (left), Adam Bandt MP (right)

To be sure, this is just one step on a long road, but Monday 15 November will at least be remembered as the day the Australian Commonwealth Parliament decided to grow up about gay marriage.

Melbourne’s Green MP Adam Bandt introduced a motion today calling on all parliamentarians to gauge their constituents’ views on the marriage equality issue (ahead of introducing a draft law on the bill). The Labor Government will support this motion, but apparently not the bill itself.

It is a small step, particularly small indeed, because only a tiny minority of MPs said anything brave, interesting or new… but it is lot better than the minor Greens or Democrat parties simply talking to a brick wall.

For example, here is the Labor MP Stephen Jones (a new MP from a classic working-class Labor heartland seat): ”Having applied the core Labor values of equality, fairness and dignity, I believe that there is a case for change.” He is now one of a dozen government figures who admit their support for equality, while officially the party digs in against it.

Independent Andrew Wilkie warned that Parliament was in danger of being out of touch with community sentiment. ”The majority of the Australian community is ready for a conscience vote on marriage equality, so let’s at least agree to go so far as having a public discussion about the issue,” he said

A quick campaign today by the Get Up lobby group lead to  5,000 personal stories, photos and messages of support for marriage equality being sent to MPs…. people like Sharon Grierson (Labor) are getting the message: “I empathise with the mother who emailed me to say that she has two young adult children, one who is married to the person they love and the other who can’t marry the person they love because they are of the same sex.” Continue reading →

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Australia / Civil Union / Europe / Families and Parents / Global / Lesbian / North America / Personal Stories — No Comments
5
Nov 10

THE MARRIAGE AND FAMILY ROUNDABOUT

jacqueline tomlins and sarah nichols

Go travelling abroad and it’s a case of now we’re married, now we’re not.

‘FILL out one form per family please, for transit through LAX.”

I roll my eyes at Sarah and take the form from the steward. There’s nothing like international travel for defining who you are: nationality, place of residence, marital status. For most people, ticking these boxes is unproblematic; for us, it’s a different story. ”Family?” I say to the steward. ”We’re a same-sex family – two mums, three kids, married some places, not others – one form or two?”

Read the rest of this great piece from Jacqueline Tomlins in the Sydney Morning Herald here

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Australia / Politicians — No Comments
3
Sep 10

AUSTRALIAN GAYS WAITING AT THE ALTAR

Was it a good or bad election for the nation’s million or so gays and lesbians? Here’s my verdict, published by the National Times today (a joint venture of the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age).  It’s going strong with the most comments of all opinion pieces today.

The start could hardly have been worse. Tony Abbott felt threatened by us, a Family First candidate linked gay marriage to child abuse, and Penny Wong sounded weak in defending Labor’s policy against marriage equality. Things started to look up when Greens’ vocal ‘equal love’ campaign was rewarded with a record vote. When Andrew Wilkie tabled a conscience vote on marriage as a priority the picture looked even better. Now the Labor-Greens agreement now leaves gays waiting (hopefully) at the altar.

The way forward is clearning a conscience vote on a Private Members Bill – but let’s not kid ourselves how tough that campaign will be …

(UPDATE: Good news in that the Greens promise to re-introduce Marriage Equality bill on first day of Parliament.)

Continue reading →

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Australia / Politicians — 5 Comments
28
Aug 10

AUSTRALIAN GREENS MUST HOLD LINE

Gillard and Brown

For a while it seemed like a bad election for Australia’s million or so gays and lesbians. Tony Abbott felt threatened by us, a Family First candidate linked gay marriage to child abuse, and Penny Wong looked weak in toeing the party line against marriage. With the Greens now potentially holding the balance of power in both houses of Parliament gay marriage has never been closer to the political centre stage.

The question concerning supporters of marriage equality is whether the Greens will reward their faith while negotiating with Labor.  Is gay marriage a core promise, we wonder? Continue reading →

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Uncategorized — No Comments
24
Aug 10

THE AUSTRALIAN ELECTION SAGA

It cannot be said that Australians voted for gay marriage on 21 August, but the outcome is indeed good news for equality advocates. While more than 80% of Australians voted for parties (officially) opposed to gay marriage, they handed the balance of power in the upper house, the Senate, to the Australian Greens who were rewarded with record votes.

The Greens will jump from having three senators to eight and hold a crucial vote in the Lower House, which may determine which party forms the Government in the ‘hung parliament.’

If anything, Australians voted against their political class – a group that had collectively produced a farcical campaign in which gay marriage repeatedly featured. They said they didn’t want any one party (including all those opposed to equality) having a ‘blank cheque’ for power. The big question for equality supporters during all the horse-trading over who will form a Government is: will the Greens party hold their line? The Gillard Labor Government desperately needs their vote and the Greens shouldn’t trade it for anything less than a free vote on gay marriage in the next Parliament

Continue reading →

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