Monday 9 August
On Monday August 9th the Australian Labor Party's Shadow Attorney General sent an email out to all interested parties confirming their intention to vote with the Government to ban the recognition of Gay Marriages.
At first look the statement seemed to be horrific and do away with Labour's desire to be Queer friendly, but then buried deep in the document was this:
Labor has a strong commitment to the introduction of anti-discrimination legislation based on sexuality and laws to protect from harassment and vilification. We have developed a policy and made a commitment to remove discriminatory provisions from Commonwealth legislation (except the Marriage Act) on the basis of sexuality and thereby deliver the equivalent recognition for same sex couples as for heterosexual de factos. This will occur through a full audit of all Commonwealth legislation to identify where such provisions exist, and a subsequent process of amending all relevant legislation. This may involve hundreds of amendments in areas such as superannuation, taxation and social security payments and so on.
Now this basically says that while they won't give us marriage they will work to I've us full equality and recognition of our relationships. Now why the hell don't they say that upfront!
Come on Mr Latham promote this and we will support you!
Australia has a new group dedicated to campaigning for same sex couple equality under Australia's marriage laws. Australian Marriage Equality (or AME for short), is made up of concerned supporters of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people from most states and territories. Together, we campaign for law reform and attitudinal change necessary to allow same sex couples to marry. Please visit their website and help by signing the petition.