An important protest for marriage equality will be held outside the Labor Party's national conference in Melbourne on July 25. The protest is being organised by Equal Love Melbourne. It is one of a series of demonstrations being organised in the lead-up to the spring session of parliament, where it is expected that several bills for marriage equality will be debated. Marriage equality has recently been won in Ireland and the United States. This places unprecedented pressure on the government. Australia is becoming more and more isolated globally.
Marriage equality
Over the weekend of July 24 to 26, the nation will be watching as the Australian Labor Party (ALP) holds its 47th triennial national conference at the Melbourne Convention Centre. The Labor Party鈥檚 national conference is its highest decision-making body, deciding its policies and future direction.
The Labor party鈥檚 previous national conference was in Sydney in 2011. At that conference, it voted for a policy supporting marriage equality. Despite that vote, and the Labor Party being in government until the end of 2013, marriage equality was not made law.
ARMIDALE
Come to a Women in Black silent vigil for peace. Mourning the victims of violence around the world. Saturday July 25 at 10.30am. Old Courthouse in the Mall.
BRISBANE
Watch a film: Selma. Follows the civil rights movement in the 1960s, with a focus on Martin Luther King Jr. Entry $10/$5 conc. Friday Jul 24 at 6pm. Brisbane Activist Centre, 74b Wickham St, Fortitude Valley. Ph Dom 0431 638 772.
MELBOURNE
Protest outside the ALP conference on Saturday July 25.
Rally for clean energy at 11am. Organised by Getup!
A landmark demonstration was held on July 5 in Perth. The crowd of about 5000 people 鈥 in the rain 鈥 made it the biggest protest for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) rights that has ever happened in Perth. It was also the biggest LGBTI protest across the country so far this year. The rally was organized by GetUp! and Australian Marriage Equality.
More than 80 people braved Ballarat鈥檚 winter weather to demand an end to institutionalised discrimination against LGBTIQ couples. Ballarat鈥檚 Equal Love rally featured several speakers, including Equal Love (Ballarat) convener Koby Bunney.
鈥淟ove is love and it always wins,鈥 he said at the end of a march from Bakery Hill to Ballarat Town Hall.
People were moved to hear from several couples whose relationships are not recognised by Australian law. Many voiced their frustration that while couples in Ireland and the US could now choose to get married, this was not yet the case in Australia.
Things can seem overwhelmingly dark these days, but at least we get to watch conservatives losing their shit over marriage equality.
Reactionary heads exploded across the US over the June 26 US Supreme Court decision to effectively legalise same-sex marriage in all 50 US states. And in Australia, panic grows at the prospect that we may follow suit.
Fifteen hundred people filled Canberra city centre with rainbow pride on June 21, to demand marriage equality.
The vibrant rally, organised by GetUp! and Australian Marriage Equality (AME), heard from Samantha and Hayley Wilson, Ebony and Ben Grady, Angie Shillington and Ally Howe, Yvette Berry from ACT Labor, Shane Rattenbury from ACT Greens and Ivan Hinton Teoh from Australian Marriage Equality.
ISRAEL BOYCOTT IS WORKING
There is a reason why the Israeli government and pro-Israel organisations use everything from slander to vexatious litigation to oppose the global campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel. The campaign is working.
The June 12 Financial Times reported: 鈥淭his week an Israeli financial newspaper covered a leaked government report estimating that BDS could cost Israel鈥檚 economy $1.4bn a year.
This speech was given by high-school student Lawson Tanner at a rally for marriage equality in Sydney on May 31.
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The long road of changing public opinion and constant campaigning, which has brought us to now, a time where many believe this could be it.
The Greens have recently introduced a private member鈥檚 bill to amend the Marriage Act to remove restrictions on marriage being between a man and a woman, and Labor have also put in a similar bill.
Rachel Evans gave this speech to a rally for marriage equality in Sydney on May 31. She is a member of Community Action Against Homophobia (CAAH) and the .
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We are on the cusp of a victory.
A victory of ordinary people against prejudice and bigotry.
We are on the edge of winning this battle for marriage equality 鈥 when the likes of Prime Minister Tony Abbott and conservative journalists Alan Jones and Andrew Bolt coming out positively for our love rights, we know we are close.
Celebrating referendum victory in Dublin. Photo: An Phoblacht.
As most of Ireland celebrates marriage equality 鈥 passed overwhelmingly in a May 22 referendum - the six counties in its north carved off and still claimed by Britain remain excluded.
Australian lawmakers are set to begin debating marriage equality, and the anti-equality brigade is not happy at all.
The Australian Christian Lobby鈥檚 managing director Lyle Shelton is the public face of the campaign against marriage equality in Australia.
I certainly don鈥檛 agree with him on everything, but I do agree with his motto, which can be aptly summarised by Helen Lovejoy鈥檚 catchphrase, 鈥渨on鈥檛 somebody please think of the children.鈥 But for once in my life I should make a minor confession: I mostly agree out of pure narcissism.
This is my open letter to Shelton.
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