Speak Now

Katter speaks now!

2012-03-18T17:23:00.002-07:00

Meanwhile, Bob Katter, MP, the independent federal member for Kennedy, has set up an alternative political party which is running candidates in the Queensland State election next week. Katter, who presumes to call his party 'Australian' has re-stated his opposition to same-sex unions, ignoring the protests of his gay (half)brother, Carl.

Bob Katter, called the 'mad Katter' in tweets from Carl, has run a series of TV ads slandering such unions in the run-up to the Queensland State elections.
Tweeted Carl: 'They a(re) using the politics of fear & hate to win vote(s). They truly are desperate to use such grubby tactics!'

As well as Greens leader Bob Brown, the ads target Qld LNP leader Campbell Newman, accusing him of supporting same-sex marriage. Newman is trying to win a seat in State parliament by running against the Labor incumbent in the State seat of Ashgrove.

Naturally, Mr Newman has avoided repeating his personal support for gay marriage, saying it's now 'immaterial'. As leader of the LNP, which voted against same-sex civil unions laws, saying it would consider repealing them if it wins government on March 24, Newman has conveniently shelved his personal view.
'I said a long, long time ago that I had a personal view about it,' he told Network Ten. 'My personal view is actually immaterial because my team in parliament last year voted against the state Labor government's civil unions bill.'

The Herald Sun claimes that the television commercial targeted Newman because KAP (Katter Australia Party) needs to steal voters from the rival conservatives of the Liberal National Party.

The Labor Premier Anna Bligh described the ad as 'bizarre' and 'way, way beyond what we expect in a political campaign'.

In spite of using the misnomer 'Australian' as the name of his new party, Katter's vision clearly does not embrace all Australians. Will he now try to attract the constituency of racists formerly aroused by the regettable Pauline Hanson to render his vision for an Australia acceptable to like-minded buffoons?

Compromise looming?

2012-03-18T17:00:00.000-07:00

Queensland Liberal MP Warren Entsch is proposing a civil unions bill to replace the other Bills already mooted to amend the Marriage Act in Parliament

In a television interview, Entsch attested that his proposal would not 'muddy the waters' of this civil rights issue, but in fact, by offering an easy way out for politicians unwilling to grant equal rights, his proposal has ALREADY muddied the waters.

Mr Entsch, who supports equal rights for same-sex couples, said he had talked to MPs from all sides of politics and didn't believe the gay marriage bills would pass.
"I'm finding in this place that there are those who are absolutely locked on and they are not going to move," Mr Entsch told ABC TV.
"Others are a little bit more, I guess, flexible in their thinking, have some level of discomfort about gay marriage but are very comfortable with the concept of some sort of a civil partnership arrangement."

All too ready to take the bait was former Liberal leader Malcolm Turnbull, whose electorate famously includes a large bloc of G&L voters...
"It would be a tragedy if this parliament did not take the opportunity to at least legislate for civil unions. Marriage is a bridge too far for some people," said Turnbull.

Mr Entsch said this was something that should be ready to go, should there be support. He said he believed it could pass parliament.
"This is not a civil unions bill for the gay community. This is across the spectrum," he said.
"Any couple, irrespective of gender, who make a decision that they want to have their relationship registered and their commitment acknowledged can do so through this without having to go through the Marriage Act."

Bills amending the definition of marriage in the Marriage Act to include same-sex couples have been proposed by by Labor MP Stephen Jones and jointly by Greens MP Adam Bandt and independent Andrew Wilkie. Both have been referred to parliamentary committees for detailed examination.

A third bill has been proposed by the Greens in the Senate. The Greens have urged Labor to stand firm against any proposal to substitute marriage equality bills currently before the parliament with one for civil unions.
"Civil unions are no substitute for marriage," Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said in a statement.
"Such a proposal would entrench discrimination because it says to same-sex couples they don't deserve the same rights as others and that their relationships are second class."

reported by news.com.au

Churches divided on same-sex marriage

2012-02-15T15:20:00.000-08:00

While the Rev. Alistair McRae, who is President of the National Assembly of the Uniting Church of Australia equivocated on the issue of same-sex marriage on ABC RN yesterday, Rev. Harry Herbert penned a strong op-ed article strongly supporting the cause, published in today's National Times. (Herbert is Exec. Director of Uniting Care NSW/ACT.)

Alistair McRae was interviewed on RN's vigorous new Religion and Ethics program, presented by Adam West, and the full report can be accessed at the website:

http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/religionandethicsreport/same-sex-marriage-and-the-challenge-to-the-churches/3832116

Harry Herbert's opinion piece can be accessed here:

http://www.nationaltimes.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/church-misses-big-picture-on-samesex-marriage-20120213-1t1jr.html

SPEAK NOW carries other strong articles in favour of same-sex marriage by a Baptist pastor in Melbourne, Rev. Nathan Nettleton, and retired Uniting Church luminary, Rev. Dorothy McRae McMahon. Nettleton, who had previously testified before a Senate inquiry into changing the marriage laws, was thereafter required by church higher-ups to offer the disclaimer that his vews did not represent the Baptist church.

Last December, Matt Glover, the Lilydale (Victoria) Baptist pastor who had expressed support for gay marriage, was sacked at a secret church meeting to which he was not invited. The Lilydale church office confirmed to The Age newspaper that Mr Glover was no longer senior pastor, but said the congregation had been instructed to remain silent.

RN's Adam West also interviewed New Zealander Rev. Dr. David Clarke, a Presbyterian minister newly elected to Parliament across the Tasman, about his 'left-wing' Christianity and his officiating at a ceremony honouring a same-sex union for NZ Labor's Deputy Leader, Grant Robertson.

We might well ask: if all of these folk claim to be interpeting the will of God, which side is this 'God' on, and whose version of deity rules public discourse? Will there soon be as many deities in the so-called Christian West as there were in ancient India? The whole matter of seeking to know the will of God is fraught with difficulty; to want to impose that version on the rest of the population is, too.

Franciscan friar Richard Rohr once said in another radio interview for RN: 'When religion doesn't move to what I call the mystical level, almost always the substitution for mysticism is morality.' (Religion Report, ABC RN, 15 Nov., 2006). Rohr used the term 'mysticism' simply to mean moving 'beyond external belief systems to inner experience'. Whether relying on the contradictory record of ancient texts as their yardstick, or listening to their so-called consciences, why is it that sincere men and women, using whatever means of communication with their deities, come up with such different rulings?

Neither of the bills to be debated in Canberra in the coming months requires ministers of religion to conduct same-sex marriages in their churches were the Marriage Act to be amended. Trying to impose wildly differing worldviews on the rest of us is eerily reminiscent of the diktats of fundamentalists in conservative religious societies where women are veiled and homosexuals executed. This is not appropriate for a secular, multicultural society, such as Australia, where religious beliefs and practices are respected but remain, by law, a matter of choice.

Two politicians SPEAK NOW in the House

2012-02-13T16:12:00.000-08:00

As Washington State's Governor signed same-sex marriage into law in the U.S., not one but TWO separate Bills were introduced in federal parliament in Canberra on Monday.

The first of these was from the Australian Greens member of the lower house, Adam Bandt, with the support of independent member Andrew Wilkie.

Labor's Stephen Jones introduced a similar private member's Bill. What this double-barrelled approach will achieve is not clear at this stage.

Aware of opposition from church groups, the Jones version states that ministers of religion would be under no obligation "to solemnise a marriage where the parties to that marriage are of the same sex''.

"This provision will ensure that the principles of religion and religious freedom is maintained when it comes to the laws of marriage in Australia,'' Mr Jones said.

Wilkie also moved a motion asking politicians to make sure that any amendments to the Marriage Act would not force churches to marry same-sex couples, so both Bills contain these protections for the faithful.

Debate was adjourned after the tabling of the bills and it could be months before they are debated in Parliament.

A week ago, the Greens announced they will move for a Senate inquiry into marriage equality, to investigate Senator Sarah Hanson-Young’s 2010 Bill. Gay News Network reports that marriage equality advocates have welcomed the move as a means to help build up support on the issue before a private member’s bill on marriage equality is voted on by MPs later in the year.

Speaking to reporters in Canberra, Hanson-Young said that there was a good chance that Australians would be celebrating marriage equality by the end of 2012.

“We know that there are some people who still don’t understand or don’t agree with the idea of removing this type of discrimination,” Hanson-Young said. “I am absolutely optimistic that we have a very good chance by the end of this year to be able to look back and say, ‘We did it’.”

National spokesperson for Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, Shelley Argent, said the inquiry would provide an opportunity for the “many thousands” of parents of gay sons and daughters to have their voices heard. Argent urges people interested in supporting the Senate hearing to make submissions by April 2nd.

Those people wishing to take the simplest option may forward their letters and statements of support through PFLAG.

E-mail: pflagbris@bigpond.com

Submissions can be quite simple, stating why equality is so important to you, and you need to include name and address.

“We can give our children everything they need in life, but only the Government can give them equality,” Argent said.

Meanwhile, on Valentine's Day, comedian Magda Szubanski has come out passionately in support of the cause, outing herself in the process.

SPEAK NOW to protest the 'gay panic' defence in Queensland

2012-01-11T16:29:00.000-08:00

“Yeah, I killed him, but he did worse to me.” These are the words of a man who reacted to some “gentle touching” from a gay man by ramming his victim’s head against a wall until he was unrecognisable, and then stabbing him to death [1].

This infamous 1997 case enshrined the “gay panic” defence in Queensland law -- allowing accused murderers to have charges downgraded if their victim was gay and “came onto” them. Just two years ago, a man was brutally killed in Father Paul Kelly’s church yard, and his killers used this same defence. They were subsequently acquitted of murder [2].

Father Kelly was horrified that this argument was even allowed in court, and wrote to the government along with thousands of others -- they didn’t respond. But with the Liberal National Party likely to win power in the March state election, there’s new hope. Father Kelly has started a Change.org petition calling on LNP leader Campbell Newman to abolish the law if he’s elected, and insiders say the party is already wavering.

If 10,000 people sign Father Kelly’s petition, his local member and senior LNP member Ted Sorensen has promised to take it to Parliament. Sign the petition now at http://www.change.org/petitions/eliminate-the-gay-panic-defence-from-queensland-law-gaypanic

A recent study named Queensland as Australia’s most homophobic state, and anti-gay violence is reportedly on the rise [3]. Laws like the “gay panic” defence are a crucial part of legitimising and reinforcing a culture which means that 73% of gay and lesbian Queenslanders are subjected to verbal abuse or physical violence for their sexuality [4].

While fierce community opposition has convinced almost all other state governments to abolish similar laws, the outcry has fallen on deaf ears in Queensland. It’s now one of the last states upholding the idea that a person can be panicked enough by gay and lesbian people to justify murder. Thousands like Father Kelly are fed up with the inaction -- it’s the perfect moment for Newman to take a stand and promise to deliver where the current government has failed.

This could be the best chance Queensland will have for years to fix what law expert Alan Berman calls a “repulsive and dangerous partial defence”. If thousands of people speak out now, it will force Newman to commit to closing the loophole -- and take meaningful steps towards reducing discrimination and violence towards gay and lesbian people in Queensland.

Stand with Father Kelly and tell Campbell Newman this outdated “gay panic” law has no place in a modern society.

Thanks for being part of this,

Nathan and the Change. org team

[1] Courier Mail, “Law says it's not murder if the victim is gay and "comes on to you"

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/opinion/better-laws-needed-to-protect-gays/story-e6frerdf-1226160221310

[2] Brisbane Times, “Men jailed over churchyard 'homosexual' bashing death”

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/men-jailed-over-churchyard-homosexual-bashing-death-20100513-v099.html

[3] Anti-gay violence on the rise

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/queensland/gay-men-targets-of-violence/2008/11/02/1225560616212.html

Queensland Australia’s most homophobic state

http://www.glhv.org.au/files/aust_inst_homophobia_paper.pdf

[4] Dr Alan Berman, legal expert and co-author of a study into homophobic violence in Queensland http://lgbtlawblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/homophobic-violence-in-queensland.html

Change.org is an online advocacy platform that empowers anyone, anywhere to start, join, and win campaigns for social change. Millions of people sign petitions on Change.org each month on thousands of issues, winning campaigns every day to advance change locally and globally.

Alex Greenwich SPEAKS NOW

2011-12-12T16:40:00.000-08:00

Alex Greenwich, the National Convenor of the very effective lobby group, Australian Marriage Equality, has drawn attention to the successes achieved during the campaign of 2011. He also recommends some courses of action we can take to keeping this issue alive...

Thank you for your support throughout 2011, together we have achieved the following:

1. Changed the ALP Platform to support marriage equality
2. Gained the Tasmanian and ACT Government's endorsement of Marriage equality
3. Had same-sex marriages counted and recognisged in the Census for the first time

4. CNIs being issued to same-sex couples wishing to marry overseas

As this unstoppable momentum continues into the new year we now need to help Coalition MPs wo open their hearts and minds to the importance of marriage equality.

We know Coalition leaders like Barry O'Farrell, Barnaby Joyce, Malcolm Turnbull and SA Leader Isobel Redmond all want MPs in their party to be allowed a conscience vote to reflect the strong public support for marriage equality.

Shortly we will be announcing our exciting plans for 2012, but in the mean-time follow the below links to help make a difference now:

1. Sign the petition calling on Tony Abbott to allow a conscience vote
2. Contact Tony Abbott and Julie Bishop directly and request the coalition grants a conscience vote

3. Email all your MPs and Senators asking them to support reform.

We will enter the new year confident that we have the support of a majority of Australians and progress on our side!

Thanks you for your continued support,

Alex Greenwich

Rodney Croome SPEAKS NOW...

2011-12-05T16:54:00.000-08:00

Rodney Croome, leading rights activist and contributor to SPEAK NOW, comments on the recent political developments...

MAKING HISTORY

There was a mixed outcome from Saturday’s Labor National Conference debate on marriage equality.

On the one hand the Labor Party made history by adopting a policy in favour of allowing same-sex marriage.

This is a first for a major Australian political party and reversed the party’s anti-equality position adopted only seven years ago.

But the ALP also voted to give Labor members the right to vote against that policy should their conscience compel them to.

With Labor holding a wafer-thin majority in Parliament this means a marriage equality has no chance unless the Coalition also allows a conscience vote.

The 10,000-strong rally that converged on the Conference after the vote wasn’t sure to cheer or boo, so it did both.

But if there is one unambiguous message from the Conference it is that the campaign for marriage equality is working.

Up until the last election there was only a handful of Labor MPs willing to back marriage equality.

Fifteen months later it is supported by all but one state Labor leader, all but one state Labor conference, two state Labor governments, most federal Labor ministers, and now the Labor National Conference.

Even a conscience vote is, in its own way, a success.

Until just a few months ago a national civil union scheme was the preferred fall-back position for many Labor decision-makers.

But that option would have cut off progress on marriage equality, whereas a conscience vote at least provides a way forward.

Beneath these changes lies a more fundamental shift in community attitudes, with support for marriage equality rising from 38% in 2004 to 65% today.

All these rapid and important changes come down to the effectiveness of the marriage equality movement.

What makes it so effective is

a) its emphasis on the power of personal stories in changing the hearts and minds of those conflicted about marriage equality (the popular It’s Time Get Up ad encapsulates this)

b) its use of social media to translate popular support for reform into letter-writing and petitioning campaigns that, for the first time in Australia, are bigger than those organised by the churches

c) its achievements of small but encouraging victories along the way (eg counting same-sex married couples in the Census and removing the ban on the documents same-sex couples need to marry overseas)

d) its ability to learn from the mistakes of campaigns overseas (for example, not allowing civil unions to become an acceptable substitute for marriage equality)

e) its cooperative and cohesive spirit when compared to many of the fractious and divided marriage equality movements in other countries

There are many challenges ahead for marriage equality supporters.

It is uncertain if Tony Abbott will allow a conscience vote, and even if he does, it is uncertain if there are the numbers for marriage equality to pass.

The issue may require more than one vote to pass, as was the case in New York earlier this year.

But if the ALP National Conference tells us anything it is that we are on the right track.

Our campaigning has made marriage equality possible, and in the minds of many, inevitable. The next step is to make it happen.

Rodney Croome is the Campaign Director of Australian Marriage Equality

To find out more about AME go to wwwaustralianmarriagequality.com

ALP changes its policy, but...

2011-12-04T14:02:00.000-08:00

At the ALP's national conference on Saturday Dec. 3rd, Party delegates endorsed, on voices, an amendment to the party's platform to amend the Marriage Act and allow gay and lesbian people to marry their same-sex partners.

However, following Prime MInister Julia Gillard's lead, they voted 208 to 184 in favour of her motion to allow state and federal MPs a conscience vote on gay marriage, meaning that if a Bill is introduced into Federal Parliament, representatives will not be bound by Party policy, but will be free to vote according to their own lights.

How much is an individual's conscience a reliable guide to legislating other peoples' rights?

As John Faulkner said, governments don't grant human rights, they recognise them. To give such a matter over to a conscience vote is unconscionable.

ACT Deputy Chief Minister Andrew Barr, a contributor to SPEAK NOW, moved the motion to change the platform and, according to The Sydney Morning Herald, he received a standing ovation as he put the 'yes' case. 'We deserve the respect and the dignity afforded to others,' he said. 'We deserve equality.'

Joe de Bruyn of the Right faction re-asserted the definition of marriage as 'the union of one man and one woman, voluntarily entered into for life', claiming that that 'It has always been that way since the dawn of humanity.'

On another issue, Julia Gillard also held sway and successfully argued that the Labor Party should lift its ban on uranium sales to India!

SPEAK NOW for Marriage Equality

2011-12-01T15:06:00.000-08:00

Australian Marriage Equality rally on Saturday 3rd Dec., from 12 noon, in Sydney's Hyde Park.

The rally, which has the support of the City of Sydney, will move from Hyde Park North to the Convention Centre at Darling Harbour.

It's a critical time to speak up; after months of lobbying, the long-awaited National Conference of the ALP is poised to consider either adopting a binding policy in favour of equality or, following the lead of the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, to permit politicians to vote according to their conscience on this issue.

As Tim Wright has written in his contribution to SPEAK NOW:

Julia Gillard’s ascension to the Labor Party leadership in June 2010 briefly raised hopes that reform to the Marriage Act was finally within our grasp. A declared atheist and (at least nominally) a member of the party’s left faction, she has the pedigree of a marriage equality supporter. Indeed, in 2006, she launched a book that I edited titled Time for Change: Australia in the 21^st Century, which rejected many of the Howard Government’s policies, including its opposition to same-sex marriage. But it was not to be. The new prime minister declared her support for the ‘traditional’ definition of marriage shortly after assuming the top job, which bewildered progressives and would plague her during the August election campaign.

It became apparent during that campaign that Ms. Gillard was not prepared to 'move forward' (her election slogan) on marriage equality, content instead to position Australia to the rear of advanced nations such as the Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Spain, Portugal, South Africa, Mexico, Argentina, and recently, Brazil, as well as some states in the U.S. (Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, Iowa, D.C., New York) all of which have changed their relevant laws to allow equality. Since that time Ms. Gillard has relied heavily on the plank in the Party platform that privileges opposite sex partnerships and the Australian Christian Lobby continues to run a fearful campaign to defend the conventional arrangement.

You can e-mail your Federal Labor rep. through this site: http://www.australianmarriageequality.com/laborconference

REVIEWS of SPEAK NOW

2011-11-25T15:07:00.000-08:00

Read Thomas Vale-Slattery's review of the collection, "Speaking Up on Same-Sex Marriage", here:

http://gaynewsnetwork.com.au/feature/feature/3121-speak-up.html

See, too, David Allan at Gay Law Net

http://www.gaylawnet.com/ezine/books/speak_now.htm

and Angela Yin's review for Q News, "Or Forever Hold Your Peace", is at:

http://qnews.com.au/article/or-forever-hold-your-peace-0

Wendell Rosevear SPEAKS NOW

2011-11-11T16:13:00.000-08:00

Dr Wendell Rosevear, OAM, is a Fellow of the Royal Australian College of GPs who works tirelessly in the areas of Gay & Lesbian health, having co-founded the Gladstone Road and Stonewall Medical Centres in Brisbane. He founded GLADS (Gay & Lesbian Alcohol & Drug recovery group) in 1991, and MARS (Men Affected by Rape & Sexual Abuse) in 1993. Dr Rosevear has worked in prisons for many years, cares for people with HIV/AIDS and is active in suicide prevention.
   Recognised in the annual SameSame list of the 25 Most Influential Gay and Lesbian Australians, among his many awards and honours is the 1996 Brisbane Australia Day Citizen of the Year, a 2001 'Local Hero' award, and the Order of Australia Medal in 1998. His community spirit has earned him the nickname 'Nelson Wendella' among his colleagues.
   Known for his counselling work in prisons, he lobbies nationally to generate insight and compassionate understanding about drug addiction and recovery, sexual assault and suicide prevention. His personal life motto is 'Make love infectious' and his chapter in SPEAK NOW is titled 'Love is not a threat'.

We asked Dr Rosevear to respond to the controversy aroused by the publication of SPEAK NOW, in particular the criticism that it doesn't speak with one voice on the issue of marriage and that politicians could be 'spooked' by the proposal of polyamory expressed by some of the contributors...

Your aim in producing the book is to foster a dialogue or conversation, so thanks. Of course that means there will be as many opinions as participants. Resolution doesn't come from sameness or conformity, it comes from acceptance and respect for honesty and choice. If we seek to not have a discussion because we don't or won't agree, then we miss out on the development of understanding and empathy that comes from interaction. If we deny one person a voice because it isn't politically expedient, we are missing the point that safety comes from valuing each person and each perspective.

I think one of the book’s strengths is that it welcomes diversity of opinion and that gives it real credibility. Not everyone in the gay community wants marriage, and some are opposed to it. Really we need to foster respect for choice and we can't ask for more than that. I work in sexual assault recovery and I am so aware that when you have a choice, you feel valued and when you have it taken away or denied, you feel devalued. We are simply asking for choice to affirm the value of all Australians... to help make Australia safe. I have seen at least seven homophobic murders in Queensland and homophobia is a toxic poison Australia can’t afford to sustain.

Some want to foster ongoing prejudice, by raising the issue of polyamory. However, polyamory is a reality in the heterosexual and gay world (and certainly part of the Muslim world). We don't deal best with reality by denying it. As we have learned, messages about safe sex for HIV and other STD prevention are best sent when we can be honest about practice and risk, not just about some myth that people are monogamous, in or out of marriage. Everyone is valuable, no matter who they choose to love and, as I wrote in my piece for SPEAK NOW, 'Love is not a Threat, Hate is'.

I also said Christians need to understand that civil government needs to stand up for civil rights, so that if they were to become a minority, their rights could be protected also. This issue is not about whose moral or political opinion about marriage is right, it is about valuing people and respecting their choices, which is really the foundation of morality anyway.

I think it would be good to send a copy to Julia Gillard, as she needs to process the issues to free her thinking. In no way does the book say one way is 'right'. I don't let fear run my life, I am an advocate of love; it beats fear. Just let there be honest voices heard to effect the change that comes from the power of people's voices. .....make Love infectious.

Melbourne Cup Weekend - Launch at Hares and Hyenas - this Sunday

2011-10-27T17:55:00.000-07:00

We're finishing off our run of 'October launches' with the Melbourne launch of Speak Now this Sunday.

Come along at 2pm, Sunday 30 October to Hares and Hyenas Bookshop and Cafe (63 Johnston St, Fitzroy 3065 Victoria). Prof. Dennis Altman, one of our contributors, and Victor Marsh the editor will be introducing the book.

The event is free and all are welcome.

Title details and information - Clouds of Magellan

Brisbane launch

Shelley Argent (Shelley Argent OAM National Spokesperson PFLAG) and Victor Marsh (editor) at the recent Avid Reader Bookshop (Brisbane) launch.

Shelley Argent speaks now

2011-10-18T19:04:00.000-07:00

The issue of same sex marriage is an issue very close to my heart. As I constantly tell the MP’s and Senators I meet in Canberra 'I have 2 sons, one gay, one straight and I want equality for both my sons'.

Marriage equality is an issue that urgently needs to be addressed in Australia. Conservative, Catholic countries are legislating for equality which encourages inclusion but the Australian Government is very slow to act because, as I am constantly told by the MPs, 'we are different'.

The continued discrimination in this country against the gay community is similar to the belief that the White Australia Policy was a good thing, but of course we now know this isn’t true. Racist fears were found to be groundless once this discriminatory policy was removed. And the same thing will apply when equality comes for the LGBTI community.

What gives me hope is today the young people are more informed, with higher expectations, and won’t accept second best. As a parent I believe this is an issue where parents should be standing in front of their children saying 'We want equality for all our children, not just some'.

This book SPEAK NOW contains a variety of stories, all compelling and confirming to me that it’s time for change, regardless of whether couples personally want to marry. Most definitely, they should have the same choices and rights as their siblings and society in general.

Marriage is an institution that isn’t perfect, or a Utopia, but it is how society generally values and celebrates a couple’s relationship.

Shelley Argent OAM
National Spokesperson PFLAG
Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays
Qld. Senior Australian of the Year 2011

Shelley Argent and Victor Marsh launched 'Speak now : Australian perspectives on sane-sex marriage' at Avid Reader, 18 October.

Rodney Croome speaks now!

2011-10-03T03:07:00.000-07:00

Most Australians know that last week the Tasmanian Lower House passed a motion in support of marriage equality.

The motion sent an important message to the Labor Party National Conference and to the Federal Parliament.

The message was made stronger because MPs from religious and blue collar backgrounds supported the motion so ardently, and because opposition from the Liberal Party was muted (we heard none of the Liberals’ past claims about marriage equality being “socially destructive”, showing how much the issue has lost its edge as a political wedge).

All these positive messages will be amplified on October 11th when Senator Sarah Hanson-Young calls attention to the Tasmanian motion in the Senate.

Coverage of the decision highlighted the irony of Tasmania being the first state to pass a marriage equality motion when it was the last state to decriminalise homosexuality. But as I’ve argued, Tassie is leading because of its history, not despite it.

What many Australians will not appreciate is the impact the marriage equality motion has had locally.
There was a strong media focus on marriage equality in the lead up to the motion, thanks to David Foster’s support for the issue, as well as the release of an opinion poll and a survey of the economic impact of reform.

The motion itself put Tassie in the national and global spotlight.
In turn, this has sparked an intense community debate in Tasmania with floods of talk back callers and letters to the editor. Local newspapers have published a wide variety of opinion pieces on the issue and have highlighted the views of their local MPs.
The motion has also prompted a wave of requests from community organisations seeking speakers on the issue. For example, tomorrow I will be in Launceston to speak on marriage equality and other reform issues at a Tasmanian community sector conference.
I’m heartened to see that other states are considering motions similar to Tassie’s. The more states pass them the stronger the message to Capitol Hill will be.

But even more important in the long term is the constructive local debate these motions foster. By removing marriage equality from the distant world of national politics and giving it a local angle, motions in state parliament make the issue more relevant to a wider range of people than ever before.

Rodney Croome

Launches

2011-09-14T03:56:00.000-07:00

Speak Now will be launched in October at the following bookstores.

1. Thursday 13 October. 3.30pm. Coop Bookstore, Southern Cross University campus, Lismore; with Prof. Baden Offord.

2. Sunday 16 October. 3.30pm. Gleebooks, Sydney, with Justice Michael Kirby, jointly launching Speak Now and his new memoir A Private Life (Allen & Unwin). This event supported by Gleebooks, Allen & Unwin and Clouds of Magellan

RSVP for this event via Gleebooks

3. Tuesday 18 October. The Avid Reader, West End, Brisbane, with Shelley Argent, national spokesperson for Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG).

4. Sunday 30 October. 2pm. Hares and Hyenas Bookshop, Fitzroy; with Prof. Dennis Altman.

Further details will be added in soon

Preliminaries

2011-09-01T20:01:00.000-07:00

Having just 'locked down' the contents of Speak Now: Perspectives on same-sex marriage in Australia, blog visitors can now read more about:

>> Contents
>> Contributor profiles

The Speak Now page on the publisher's website has also been set up - with ISBN, RRP and other title details.

We are aiming to 'hit the press' within the next week, and have the book physically available mid to late October - well in time for the Labor Party Conference. This blog will give details of upcoming launches and events.

Contributor profiles

2011-09-01T17:36:00.000-07:00

CONTRIBUTORS to Speak Now: Australian perspectives on same-sex marriage (from the 'Contributors' section of the book)

Dennis Altman is Professor of Politics and Director of the Institute for Human Security at Latrobe University and a prominent public intellectual. Among his myriad publications, his groundbreaking book Homosexual: oppression and liberation (1971) influenced the politics of gay liberation across the world.

Dennis Altman laments the loss of the radical critique that was central to the early gay and lesbian movement.

Barbara Baird is Associate Professor and head of women’s studies at Flinders University in South Australia. She has researched the history and contemporary cultural politics of abortion, and changing discourses of sexuality in Australia.

Barbara Baird locates historical precedents for the political and social significance of same-sex partnering, from colonial times up to the present.

Andrew Barr is the first openly gay Member of the ACT Legislative Assembly and the first to serve as a Minister in an Australian Government. He is currently Deputy Chief Minister and Treasurer of the ACT. His partner, Andrew Toms, works in the rag trade.

Andrew Barr shares the experience of his own partnership ceremony, to provide a sense of the human element in this highly politicised issue.

Michael Carden is a biblical scholar with numerous published essays on the Bible, sexuality and religion, and he is on the editorial board of the e-Journal Bible and Critical Theory. His book, Sodomy: A History of a Christian Biblical Myth, was published by Equinox Publications.

Michael Carden revisits church history to show how the ‘institution’ of marriage evolved and argues for a broadening of recognition to include other kinds of relationships.

Rodney Croome, AM, is an honorary lecturer in sociology at the University of Tasmania and co-author of Why v Why: Gay Marriage. Campaign coordinator of Australian Marriage Equality and spokesperson for the Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Rights Group, Rodney fronted the successful campaign to decriminalise homosexuality in Tasmania, taking the case to the United Nations.

Linking the current struggle to earlier government controls over who could marry whom, Rodney Croome argues that infringement of the freedom to marry is part of a broader ideological vision in which marriage is manipulated to discriminatory, ideological ends.

Elaine Crump moved to Australia from the midlands of England in 1970. After completing matriculation, she joined the Navy as a radio technician and since then has enjoyed careers in commercial radio, business machine maintenance, computer hardware, and data communications and has postgraduate qualifications in professional accounting.

Elaine’s story about marrying ‘across state lines’ underlines the importance of the social recognition accorded by marriage, rather than ‘civil partnerships’.

Sharon Dane arrived in Australia with her parents at the age of 16. She was awarded a PhD in Social Psychology at the University of Queensland. Her area of research interest is the relationship between social inclusion and psychological well-being. Sharon is currently employed as a social scientist at a leading research organisation.

Sharon Dane details research findings on the types of relationship recognition actually preferred by same-sex attracted people across Australia.

Michelle Dicinoski is a writer of poetry and creative non-fiction which has appeared in journals, newspapers, and anthologies, including The Best Australian Poems, The Australian Literary Review, and Meanjin. Michelle is working on a memoir called Ghost Wife which examines same-sex marriage, belonging, and the ghostly family histories that haunt us.
Michelle Dicinoski provides a personal account of travelling to Canada to marry her US partner in Toronto.

Luke Gahan is studying for a PhD in Sociology at La Trobe University while working part time at the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society. Luke was the founding National Convenor of Australian Marriage Equality and has remained committed to marriage and parenting equality for same-sex couples.
Luke Gahan’s experience of love, marriage and divorce shows that same-sex couples can face the same difficulties as their opposite-sex counterparts.

Paula Gerber is a senior lecturer at Monash University Law School and a Deputy Director of the Castan Centre for Human Rights Law. On the Board of the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission, she is an expert on international human rights law, with a particular focus on same-sex families and children’s rights.

Paula Gerber (and Adiva Sifris) analyse some of the crucial legal issues when same-sex partners are also parents.

Evelyn Gray studied biology at University in the UK and qualified as a primary teacher before coming to Australia in 1971.

Evelyn Gray makes a personal plea for the partnerships of both of her daughters to be treated with equal respect.

Ryan Heath is speechwriter for the Vice President of the European Union, Neelie Kroes, and the most senior Australian to work there. Previously, he was Assistant Director at the UK Cabinet Office, and a political adviser to Peter Garrett and Kevin Rudd. Ryan has written extensively on social issues for Australian and British publications and founded The Gay Marriage Blog in 2010.

As a political aide in Australia, the UK and Europe, Ryan Heath has gained more than a glimpse behind the scenes of public performance and private political realities.

Lynne Hillier is a social psychologist and Principal Research Fellow at the Australian Research Centre in Sex Health & Society (ARCSHS) at La Trobe University. Her research over the last 17 years has focused on the marginalisation of young people, particularly same-sex attracted youth, and the ways that techniques of domination (such as homophobia) can lead to negative health outcomes.

Lynne Hillier’s long-term research, published as the Writing Themselves In reports, has provided unique insights into the health implications of society’s treatment of same-sex attracted youth.

Crusader Hillis and Rowland Thomson own the legendary queer bookshop Hares & Hyenas, which acts as a de facto community centre and referral service for many of its users, supporting the work of transgender, Indigenous, disabled, multicultural and other fringe artists and writers from the queer community.
They have been together for over 30 years but Crusader Hillis asks why you would bother to get married when you have the respect of your family, your friends, your neighbours and your work colleagues.

Walter Jennings runs the Australian operations of a global public relations consultancy. Originally from New Jersey, he has been with his (Italian) Australian partner for more than twenty years and they are raising an adopted (Chinese) child.

Walter Jennings recounts some of the complications of a relationship that has refused to stay within conventional, and national, boundaries.

Tiffany Jones has written for diverse media including LOTL magazine, Sextures, The American Journal of Sexuality Education and—her grandma’s fave—Dolls, Bears and Collectables. She is completing her PhD on constructions of GLBTIQ students in Australian education policy, at the ARCSHS (La Trobe University).

Tiffany’s personal story recalls painful (and comic) memories of a high school crush that led to unexpected but welcome outcomes.

The Hon. Michael Kirby, AC, CMG has had a remarkable national and international career as a distinguished jurist. He came out in Who’s Who in Australia in 1999, naming Johan van Vloten as his long-term partner. While President of the International Commission of Jurists he encouraged that organisation to give more consideration to human sexuality as an aspect of human rights and, as an Anglican, he has expressed disappointment at his church’s stance on gay rights.

Michael Kirby’s illustrious career as a jurist has been informed by his personal experience as a gay man, and we look forward to the publication of his memoirs.

Benjamin Law is a Chinese Australian humorist, noted for his mordant wit. A regular contributor to frankie magazine, to crikey.com and The Monthly, among others, his collection of personal essays about growing up gay on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, The Family Law, has further expanded his audience.

From Law’s richly comic accounts of life in a distinctly white-bread region of Australia we excerpt his droll account of the awkwardness of being gay in a predominantly ‘straight’ world.

Rev. Dorothy McRae-McMahon has been a staff member of the NSW Ecumenical Council, minister of the Pitt Street Uniting Church, Sydney, and National Director for Mission of the Uniting Church. In 1997, she came out publicly as a lesbian. Since retiring she has continued to participate in the struggle of the church and community, in Australia and internationally, to build an inclusive society.

Recognised with many awards over the years for her contribution to the spiritual life of the community, Dorothy McRae-McMahon offers a moving personal testimony.

Victor Marsh is a writer, editor, researcher, lecturer, former television producer and student of comparative religion, who has taught meditation in a dozen or so countries. A research advisor at the University of Queensland, he also teaches writing and cultural studies at Southern Cross University. His critical study of Christopher Isherwood, Mr Isherwood Changes Trains, was published by Clouds of Magellan in 2010.

Paul Martin is Principal Psychologist, Centre for Human Potential, specialising in LGBTI mental health for over twenty years. Paul runs national workshops for psychologists and counsellors on working effectively with gays and lesbians and is an organisational consultant for corporations and government departments.

Paul Martin writes about the insidious effects of shaming, weaving together his personal story of coming to terms with his sexuality and his professional experience as a psychologist.

Alyena Mohummadally and her partner Catherine Roberts are practising lawyers, ostensibly from different sides of a prominent ethnic divide—Alyena is a Pakistani Australian who inspired Catherine to investigate her own Jewish ancestry.

Once vehemently opposed to the very concepts of marriage (a patriarchal institution to be dismantled) and motherhood (see previous brackets) Alyena and Cat are now married and raising a son together.

Chris Morgan is an academic and writer and lives in northern NSW.

Chris Morgan’s personal account of his family network shows how the complexity of lived human relationships simply cannot be contained under a single umbrella.

Wayne Morgan is a senior lecturer at the ANU College of Law. He (with others) instigated the teaching of law and sexuality courses at Melbourne University Law School and now teaches such a course at the ANU. He was a consultant to the Tasmanian Government in the drafting of the Tasmanian civil union legislation. He publishes in the areas of sexuality theory, anti-discrimination and relationship recognition.

Wayne Morgan traces the recognition of same-sex relationship as it developed from the feminist lobbying of the 1980s, through de facto law reform and the current debate, to look beyond the privileged ideal of coupledom.

Rev. Nathan Nettleton is an ordained minister with the Baptist Union of Victoria and has been pastor to the congregation in South Yarra since 1994. He has been engaged in dialogue on the place of homosexual people in the churches since his involvement on the Baptist Union’s 1997 Taskforce on the topic. He lives in Melbourne with his wife and their 13 year old daughter and two dogs.

While Nathan Nettleton does not speak for the wider Baptist church, here he provides a rationale for the equal recognition of same-sex marriages contributing to, rather than undermining, the institution of marriage.

Maria Pallotta-Chiarolli is Senior Lecturer in the School of Health and Social Development at Deakin University, Melbourne. Her primary areas of interest are cultural, gender, sexual and family diversity and their various permutations. Twice winner of a Lambda Literary Award, Maria is also an External Faculty Member of Saybrook University, San Francisco, the Honorary Patron of PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) Victoria, and Founding Member of AGMC Inc (Australian GLBTIQ Multicultural Council).

Maria Palotta-Chiarolli argues that to widen the framing of marriage to include same-sex couples simply doesn’t go far enough, for simply re-inforcing the unduly privileged status of pair-bonding doesn’t accommodate the true diversity of human partnering.

Kerryn Phelps, AM, was the first female president of the Australian Medical Association (AMA) where she fought for many public health and social issues. Known through her work as a health journalist, she and her wife Jackie Stricker-Phelps have worked for legal equality for same-sex relationships since their marriage in New York in 1998. Prof. Phelps was honoured in the 2011 Queens Birthday honours list, being made Member of the Order of Australia for ‘service to medicine, particularly through leadership roles with the Australian Medical Association, to education and community health, and as a general practitioner’.

While initially a somewhat reluctant public spokesperson for same-sex partnerships, Kerryn Phelps has worked long and hard to bring them the equal respect they deserve. Her stirring speech to open the 2011 Mardi Gras in Sydney directly challenges the Prime Minister’s view that marriage is only between a man and a woman.

Damien W Riggs is a lecturer in social work at Flinders University. He publishes in the areas of critical race and whiteness studies, gender and sexuality studies, and parenting and family studies (and the intersections of these three areas). Titles include Priscilla, (white) queen of the desert, Becoming parent: Lesbians, gay men, and family, and What about the children! Masculinities, sexualities and hegemony.

Damien Riggs draws our attention to the often-ignored racial dimensions of the national conversation.

Donald Ritchie is a writer and criminologist, living and working in Melbourne. Donald was a finalist in the 2008 Mardi Gras short story competition and had a story published in the Australasian Anthology of Short Stories by Spiny Babbler. He is currently writing a novel.

Donald Ritchie describes an encounter with Customs and Immigration that brought home the inequity of the second-class status accorded same-sex partners.

Wendell Rosevear, OAM, is a Fellow of the Royal Australian College of GPs and runs a busy medical practice in Brisbane. Known for his counselling work in prisons, he lobbies nationally to generate understanding about drugs, addiction and recovery, sexual assault, relationships, and suicide prevention.

Wendell Rosevear believes passionately in the value of each person, including those in prison for violent crimes. Here he identifies some fundamental shifts in understanding that promote healing at the personal and social level.

Lulu Shapiro is a former nurse now working in recruitment for the health sector and she also works with the long-term unemployed. Her partner, Jannine Lockyer, a sales and marketing expert representing national and international organisations in development and sales roles, is currently owner-operator of a recruitment agency.

Many people can no longer accept that to be in a same-sex partnership precludes having and raising children. Lulu and Jannine share insights from the real world of a very human family.

Adiva Sifris is a senior lecturer at Monash University Law School who previously practiced in Family Law and she has a particular interest in same-sex parenting. Her publications include the book Children and the Lesbian ‘Homo-nuclear’ family: A Challenge for Australian Family Law in the New Millennium and she co-edited the collection of essays Current Trends in the Regulation of Same-Sex Relationships (2011) with Paula Gerber.

Adiva Sifris and Paula Gerber analyse some of the crucial legal issues when same-sex partners are also parents.

Peter Tatchell is an Australian-born human rights campaigner, based in London. He is coordinator of the Equal Love UK campaign, which in February 2011 filed an application in the European Court of Human Rights to overturn Britain’s twin bans on gay civil marriages and heterosexual civil partnerships.

Peter Tatchell here argues to extend the ‘marriage’ model so that it might embrace a variety of supportive, caring relationships.

Yantra de Vilder is a composer and sound artist who has worked in film, television, radio and advertising for over twenty years. Her eclectic blend of musical talents encompasses composition, arranging, direction, conducting and performance. A versatile collaborator and consultant, Yantra is Creative Director of Labyrinth Studios.

Yantra de Vilder found that a lot of conflicting feelings were stirred up when she decided to tie the knot with her partner, Suzanne.

Zenith Virago is a celebrant, consultant, educator, facilitator, speaker and author who has been working in Byron Bay and beyond for over fifteen years. As a celebrant, she offers support for weddings and commitment ceremonies, and consults on natural and holistic approaches to dying, death and funerals.

Zenith Virago testifies to the blessings that accrue when same-sex partners have their relationship honoured and celebrated before their communities of family and friends.

Kees Waaldijk is Professor of Comparative Sexual Orientation Law at Leiden University in the Netherlands. Writing about homosexuality and the law for many years, he was responsible for major comparative legal research projects, and involved in influential test cases and legislation on same-sex partnership, parenting, and marriage in the Netherlands and North America.

Kees Waaldijk contributes an important record of the legislative steps taken when governments decide to acknowledge marriage equality.

Deb Wain is a poet, short story writer, freelance writer and marriage celebrant, with a passion for our environment.

When marrying her husband, Deb Wain was shocked to hear that the celebrant was required by law to assert that marriage could only be between a man and a woman.

Tim Wilson is an international public policy analyst who serves as Director of the Intellectual Property and Free Trade Unit at the Institute of Public Affairs. A commentator on TV and radio, he is regularly published in journals and newspapers, including the Wall Street Journal and The Australian. In 2009 The Australian recognised him as one of the ten emerging leaders of Australian society.

Tim Wilson proposes a new model of recognising unions that would give equal respect to the civil rights claims of same-sex couples wishing to marry, while acknowledging the long history of practices associated with marriage within conventional religious settings.

Tim Wright is a committee member of Australian Marriage Equality and a former convenor of Equal Love. An adviser to Australian Democrats leader Senator Lyn Allison from 2006 to 2008, he interned for US Congressman Dennis Kucinich in 2009. Voted one of Australia’s twenty-five most influential gays and lesbians, he currently works as the Australian director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.

Tim Wright describes how legislation that cut across the basic principles of equality that he was studying at law school inspired his move into political activism.

Speak Now - Contents

2011-09-01T17:25:00.000-07:00

Foreword—The Hon. Michael Kirby, AC, CMG
Love matters: Editor’s introduction—Victor Marsh

Why gay marriage?—Dennis Altman
Historical contexts for a very public Australian lesbian coupling—Barbara Baird
Out in the ACT—Andrew Barr and Anthony Toms
Christianity, marriage, love and friendship—Michael Carden
A history of freedom to marry in Australia—Rodney Croome AM
Married in Canada, living in Oz—Elaine Crump
Not so private lives—Sharon Dane
How to grow a lawn—Michelle Dicinoski
The ins and outs of marriage (and divorce)—Luke Gahan
Make my daughter equal—Evelyn Gray
Stuck on the mezzanine—Ryan Heath
‘On my 50 year anniversary I want a letter from the queen’—Lynne Hillier and Tiffany Jones
Thoughts of a marriage agnostic—Crusader Hillis
Head over falls in love—Walter Jennings
Tying the K(NOT)!—Tiffany Jones
I’m not even sure I really like rainbows—Benjamin Law
‘Are you and Ali married, Grandma?’—Rev. Dorothy McRae-McMahon
Gathering the pieces—Paul Martin
When worlds, happily, collide—Alyena Mohummadally and Catherine Roberts
Marriage at the edge—Chris Morgan
A brief history of relationship law reform in Australia—Wayne Morgan
Supporting same-sex marriage as a heterosexual, Bible-believing, Baptist Pastor—Rev. Nathan Nettleton
‘Messing up the couples cabinet’—Maria Pallotta-Chiarolli
No more lame excuses—Kerryn Phelps AM
The racial politics of marriage claims—Damien W Riggs
Customs—Donald Ritchie
Love is not a threat—Wendell J Rosevear OAM
Our family—Lulu Shapiro and Jannine Lockyer
It makes no sense: Adoption by same-sex couples in Australia—Adiva Sifris & Paula Gerber
Dear Julia, the public supports gay marriage. Why won’t you?—Peter Tatchell
Greetings from the Isle of Lesbos—Yantra de Vilder
Working as a civil celebrant—Zenith Virago
I got married, some can’t. That’s not fair—Deb Wain
Respecting diversity and rights—Tim Wilson
Love triumphing over fear—Tim Wright

APPENDIX

Legal recognition of same-sex couples in the countries of the world: a chronological overview—Kees Waaldijk

Dr Kerryn Phelps speaks now...

2011-08-29T20:16:00.000-07:00

Dr Kerryn Phelps, contributor to Speak Now, appeared in a brief debate on marriage equality on the Australian Seven Network's Sunrise morning program, Aug. 30th.

The discussion -- with Australian Christian Lobby spokesperson Jim Wallace promoting one Christian model -- probed the reasons for religious opposition to marriage equality.

Wallace relied heavily on the trope of the 'natural', reminiscent of Pope Benedict XVI's famous diatribe two days before Christmas, 2008, when he tied his campaign against homosexuality to environmentalist causes, calling for a 'human ecology' to protect the species from self-destruction.

The Pope averred that 'saving humanity from homosexual or transsexual behaviour is just as important as saving the rainforest from destruction' (Reuters 23 Dec 2008). Pointedly ignoring the pervasive deleterious effects on the environment that stem directly from Church teaching, he recommended that humanity needed to 'listen to the language of creation' to understand the intended roles of man and woman.

If the Pope were really drawing his teaching from observing the 'natural world', he would have noticed, along with zoologists, that so-called 'homosexual' acts have been observed among literally hundreds of species. Such acts are recognised increasingly as normal variations of sexual behaviour.

Check out the book by Bruce Bagemihl, PhD, [Stonewall Inn Edn. 2000] which makes very clear how prevalent homosexual behaviour is a part of natural diversity. Wallace and the Pope are both deploying a construction that manipulates the trope of the natural world in the service of the ideologies of their respective religions.

Phelps asserted that there are, in fact, religions that support marriage equality, in response to which Wallace invoked a document he had presented to Parliament, which he said had been endorsed by over 50 churchmen from the 'Evangelical, Pentecostal, Catholic and Orthodox divide', averring that 'You can't get broader than that'. Apparently he was unaware that his 'broad' cohort included only Christian groups and that they were all churchMEN !

Phelps pointed out that in fact many church men have come out in support of the cause and, going beyond the narrowly Christian framing, cited the statement by a Council of Progressive Rabbis who issued this statement earlier 2011:

"We, the members of the Moetzah, the Rabbinic Council of Progressive Rabbis of Australia, Asia and New Zealand, support marriage equality under Australian law.

"Judaism teaches that all human beings are created betzelem Elohim (Genesis 1:27), in the image of God, and are therefore entitled to full dignity and equality. The Jewish people are all too familiar with discrimination and worse, and we reject it however rationalised.

"Australian law should guarantee equality; marriage being both a religious and a civil status. There is no reason for Australian law to limit or discriminate against the civil or legal rights of any individual or group.

"Therefore, we, the Moetzah, call upon the Australian Government to enact speedily legislation granting full marriage equality."

Revd. Nathan Nettleton, a Baptist pastor in Melbourne, has contributed an essay to Speak Now that argues strongly for same-sex marriage as supportive of the 'institution of marriage'. See his piece, titled: 'Supporting Same-Sex marriage as a heterosexual, Bible-believing, Baptist pastor.'

Psychologist Paul Martin speaks now

2011-08-28T19:19:00.000-07:00

Contributor to Speak Now, psychologist Paul Martin, reports back on his meeting with the Prime Minister in Canberra...

In my meetings with MP’s and with the Prime Minister in Canberra, one angle that they say is new to them is of the connection between mental health and same sex marriage.

The information I give them is based on my 25 years as a psychologist specialising in the area of same-sex attraction and the most recent research-based public statements from the American Psychological Association.

I talk to them about the fact that everyone is brought up in a homophobic world and almost everyone who is same-sex attracted will absorb these negative messages and, naturally, will have beliefs about themselves, including being 'defective' and socially excluded.

The statistics regarding mental and physical health problems in gay and lesbian populations are extremely negative. This includes recent Australian data which suggests that gays and lesbians are more than 4 times more likely to attempt suicide and have much higher rates of mental disorders and physical health issues. This is a direct result of ‘internalised homophobia.’

One of the internalised homophobic beliefs is that same sex relationships are not as valid or valuable as their heterosexual peers.

According to the research, and my clinical experience, when the issue of same-sex marriage is debated, the negative rhetoric stated by community leaders leads to psychological distress for gays and lesbians and their children. This is due to the fact that what they are hearing confirms what they already believe about themselves.   If they were brought up in a society which valued same sex relationships, the non-evidence based words spoken by these people could be easily brushed off as being somewhat silly, or a result of bias and stigma.

Research clearly demonstrates that when heterosexual people value gays and lesbians’ relationships, the psychological wellbeing of those people increases significantly. In talking with politicians I mention anecdotes of friends of mine from Canada and Norway who say that when they are with a group of people which includes gays and lesbians, the level of worth seems palpably higher as they proudly introduce their husbands and wives and show off their wedding albums.   When they come to Australia they say how amazed they are at the general difference in the levels of wellbeing. They are saddened by the sorts of words they hear spoken by the opponents of same-sex marriage.

The best way to stop this ongoing distress for same-sex attracted people and to automatically and instantly improve their psychological wellbeing is to allow the choice to marry. This won’t solve the psychological issues overnight, but it will be an important step towards improving the mental health of many thousands of Australians.

Three contributors to Speak Now meet with the Prime Minister

2011-08-28T18:13:00.000-07:00

Prof. Kerryn Phelps is shown on the left, with her wife, Jackie Stricker. Rodney Croome is next to the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, and on the extreme right is Brisbane psychologist Paul Martin. They are joined by the tireless national spokesperson for PFlag Australia, Shelley Argent.

Phelps, Croome and Martin have all contributed pieces to Speak Now.

The group met the P.M. and another 14 politicians in Canberra last week to raise awareness of the human story behind marriage equality.

Coverage in The Weekend Australian

2011-08-28T17:46:00.000-07:00

Last week, some 30 Federal parliamentarians reported to the House on Greens MP Adam Bandt's earlier motion that they should consult with their constituents and report back to the House.

In The Weekend Australian Sat. Aug. 27, 'editor at large' Paul Kelly reported this development under the headline 'MPs won't jump on same-sex bandwagon'.

Kelly's opening sentence referred to 'mounting evidence' that any move in the current parliament to allow marriage equality is 'unlikely to prevail'. His 'evidence' is based on the fact that 20 of those MPs signalled their rejection of the possibility, with only seven indicating support.

As there are 150 MPs (and 76 Senators), only a biased commentator could read this as definitive, or as countervailing the generally favorable community opinion, as evidenced in a number of opinion polls.

Kelly has to acknowledge that this 'cannot offer a definitive guide', so he resorts to studying 'the omens', which he declares are 'apparent'. It's not until his eighth paragraph that he admits that 'opinion has moved and moved fast'.

Elsewhere in the same issue, conservative columnist Christopher Pearson, who says he came out of the closet in 1971, indulges in specious religious rationale to back his assertion that 'formal recognition of same-sex cuples is tantamount to the dictatorship of relativism'. The headline recommends that 'Parliament should vote against gay marriage'.

Pearson links the issue to an argument about female priests, and says respect ought to be paid to the '2000-year-old tradition, following Christ's example at the Last Supper, that the priesthood be exclusively male', tagging his opinion with this bizarre statement: 'Men are categorically unfit to be nuns, as are women to be priests and blokes to be brides.'

No-one is expecting that conservative churches should be forced to conduct wedding rituals for same-sex couples. It is the State that recognises marriage unions and it is high time that the secular status of marriage be clearly demarcated. Churches will continue to do whatever it is they do.

These pieces are further examples of mere opinion posing as journalism. Marginalising marriage equality by representing it solely as a 'Greens campaign' ignores the human story unfolding here.

Carl Katter distances himself from his politician brother

2011-08-23T20:03:00.000-07:00

Carl Katter, half-brother to independent Senator Bob Katter, expressed his concern that his brother has spoken out scornfully on the issue of marriage equality.

"I don't know how he can target a minority and persecute them, in the way he has," Carl Katter said on Network Ten's 6.30 program. "It's hurtful, it's dangerous, it's damaging... His gross generalisations are inappropriate in today's society, " he told host George Negus. "I don't understand his motives."

Conservative Christians fight back...

2011-08-23T19:52:00.000-07:00

Responding to surveys suggesting that suggest that 53% of people identifying as Christian support same-sex marriage, a large group of church leaders are lobbying Federal politicians not to change the Marriage Act.

These leaders include the Anglican Archbishop of Sydney Peter Jensen, the Catholic Archbishop of Sydney George Pell, Lutheran Church president Mike Semmler, Orthodox Archbishop of Australia Paul Sliba, Salvation Army commissioner Raymond Finger and Presbyterian moderator-general David Jones.

MPs were due to report report to parliament today on their consultations with constituents to gauge support for same-sex marriage. Support -- and opposition -- was noted from all sides.

Catholic Labor MP Graham Perrett said he supported a change to recognise gay marriage because it would protect young gay people from abuse. Mr Perrett has two gay brothers. He said his Catholic faith was a “private matter” and he had no qualms about speaking out in support of gay marriage.

Just whom does the Australian Christian Lobby represent?

2011-08-18T00:29:00.000-07:00

If a recent opinion poll is anything to go by, a majority of Australian Christians believe same-sex couples should be allowed to marry.

A Galaxy Research poll, released 16 August, found that 53% of Australians who identify as Christians support same-sex marriage, while 41% oppose. 67% of non-Christians support it.

A spokesperson for Australian Marriage Equality, Malcolm McPherson, himself a Christian, says the poll shows church leaders and Christian lobbyists who oppose same-sex marriage are not representative.

The website Same Same reports on number of mainstream Christian ministers who have spoken out in favour of the reform. See their full report at http://www.samesame.com.au/

“Christian groups that oppose marriage equality like the Australian Christian Lobby are entitled to their view, but they do not represent the majority of Australian Christians”, McPherson said. “Clearly, most Australian Christians believe same-sex marriage is consistent with Christian values like justice, love, compassion and fidelity, not opposed to these values.”

SameSame reports that Christian leaders who have given their support to the campaign come from Uniting, Anglican and Baptist churches across Australia, and include Sydney minister and 2GB radio host Rev Bill Crews, who emphasised the distinction between religious and civil marriages in their report:

“In a secular and non discriminatory society gay couples should be as free to marry as any other human couple. If people wish to be married within a religious or spiritual institution’s framework then they should accept the rites and rules of that institution. However it is the state that legitimises all marriages.”

SameSame also quotes Melbourne Baptist Pastor Matt Glover, who says allowing same-sex marriages will benefit marriage as an institution:

“As a Christian minister, I believe that marriage is under threat from many angles, but also believe that recognizing same-sex unions will help return marriage to its rightful place in society.”

Another Baptist Minister, Rev. Nathan Nettleton of South Yarra, has contributed a substantial chapter to Speak Now titled: "Supporting Same-Sex Marriage as a heterosexual, Bible-believing Baptist Pastor."

After his recent appearance on ABC TV's program Compass, Rev. Nettleton was asked to state that although he is an ordained Baptist pastor, the opinions expressed were his personal views and were not seeking to represent the official position of any union of Baptist churches, or the majority opinion of Baptist people.

The group of Christian clergy known as Christians 4 Equality have now joine the Unitarians, Quakers, and the Metroplitan Community Church in publicly supporting same-sex marriage in Australia.

The Rabbinic Council of Progressive Rabbis of Australasia put their support for same-sex marriage on the record back in June.

However, the Australian Christian Lobby, which organised the rally in Canberra, has dismissed the poll results as absurd.

"Certainly my work with Evangelical, Catholic and Orthodox churches leaves me in no doubt that the great majority of their adherents don't support same-sex marriage," said Mr Wallace, the Lobby's Managing Director.

"I think a simple additional question on the poll that determined if the person actually attended a church might have made the result more informative," he said.

The Australian Greens responded to the poll results saying it gives a real reflection of the views of the Christian community.

"This poll confirms what we have known for some time - most Christians, like other everyday Australians, have no objection to marriage equality and believe that same-sex couples should have the same rights as heterosexual couples," the Greens' spokesperson for sexual orientation and gender identity, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, said.

"All too often, we hear from a narrow section of the community, who beat the drum loudly against equality for same-sex couples and in doing so claim to represent the views of all Australian Christians.

"Over several years, I have been contacted by many Christians in strong support of marriage equality - mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers who believe in treating all people with dignity and respect. Indeed many Christian leaders have been pushing this reform for some time."

Listen to Parliamentary debate

2011-08-18T00:01:00.000-07:00

You can listen to the audio file of parliamentary debate on a motion by the Greens Member of the House, Adam Bandt (from November 15, 2010) after Bandt had called on parliamentarians so seek out the views of their constituents on marriage equality for same-sex partners, here:

http://australianpolitics.com/2010/11/15/house-of-representatives-debates-gay-marriage-resolution.html

Bandt's motion read, "That this House:

(1) notes there is:
(a) a growing list of countries that allow same-sex couples to marry including the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, SPain, Canada and South Africa; and

(b) widespread support for equal marriage in the Australian community; and

(2) calls on all parliamentarians to gauge their constituents’ views on the issue of marriage equality.

Two of our contributors 'Speak Now'

2011-08-17T23:40:00.000-07:00

In response to the rally against same-sex marriage staged in Canberra, two contributors to Speak Now were quoted in news reporting of the event.

Rodney Croome, speaking on behalf of the group Australian Marriage Equality, asserted that the offensive rhetoric used by protestors had no place in any debate on same-sex marriage, saying: "The Australian Christian Lobby, which often complains about opponents of same-sex marriage being ridiculed and demonised, must show it is sincere about a mature debate by distancing itself from the offensive comments made today."

Paul Martin, a Queensland psychologist who specialises in the mental health of gay and lesbian people, also found the comments damaging: "Prejudice and ridicule damage the mental health of young same-sex attracted people and the last thing they need to hear are these kind of offensive comments from people who purport to represent 'family values'."

Their comments were taken from an AAP story reported in the Sydney Morning Herald 16 Aug 2011.

Paul Martin writes about the toxic effects of shaming in his chapter in Speak Now, which is titled: "Gathering the Pieces."

In his piece "A History of Freedom to Marry in Australia", Rodney Croome links the current struggle to earlier historical government controls over who could marry whom, arguing that infringement of the freedom to marry is part of a broader ideological project in which marriage is manipulated to discriminatory, ideological ends.

A week of contrasts

2011-08-16T21:42:00.000-07:00

9th August 2011
Federal Finance Minister Penny Wong released a statement that her long-term partner Sophie Allouache was expected to give birth in December after falling pregnant through IVF.

13th August 2011
The Sydney Morning Herald published the results of an opinion poll which asked: "Should same-sex marriages be recognised in Australia. Their pie chart showed 66.6% of respondents were in favour, saying YES; 28.3% said NO; 5.1% didn't know.

16th August 2011
Bob Katter, Independent MP, was one of several federal representatives, including Nationals Senate leader Barnaby Joyce, who spoke at a rally organised by the Australian Christian Lobby and the Australian Family Association. The event was staged at Parliament House in Canberra to raise support for a campaign against marriage equality for same-sex partners. Katter auctioned off his cowboy hat, raising $2700 towards the campaign. "Truly this proposition deserves to be laughed at and ridiculed," he said.

40 + years after the Stonewall riots, New York State finally changes the law

2011-08-14T14:25:00.000-07:00

New York, New York !

Professor Kerryn Phelps, AM

The scenes outside the Stonewall Inn after the announcement that the New York Senate had passed the legislation to enable marriage equality could have not been more different from the riot that gave Stonewall its reputation as the epicentre of the gay rights movement, back on 27 June 1969… Jubilation, tears of joy and relief, marriage proposals, the crowd spontaneously breaking into choruses of ‘New York, New York’.

Watching it on Twitter and YouTube provided a sense of immediacy, but I have never before wanted so much to be there in New York City to experience first hand such a moment in history. Back in Australia, and ironically, this weekend yet another ALP State conference defied the bloody-minded rhetoric of its Federal leader to vote in support of marriage equality. How on earth Australia's Prime Minister could possibly continue to mouth those offensive and divisive words about marriage being ‘between a man and a woman’ is beyond my comprehension. Someone needs to take her aside and tell her that the first rule of leadership is to be worthy of following, and the second rule of leadership is to check behind you to see if anyone is actually following you.

Poll after poll shows that Australians are ready for this fundamental injustice to be rectified. Polling shows 75 percent of Australians believe it is inevitable. Every state ALP branch that has been given the opportunity to vote on this has voted in support of marriage equality. So in this supposed democracy, Julia Gillard does not seem to care that she is completely at odds with the majority of people and her own party, by whose grace she occupies the top office.

In many respects Julia Gillard seems to have deliberately isolated herself from reality on this issue. She has regularly met with minority, right wing, religious fundamentalists opposing marriage equality, while steadfastly refusing any requests to meet with organisations or individuals supporting change and the majority view. Her response to the New York announcement was cringeworthy. The contrast with recent statesmanlike speeches by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg could not be more stark.

If the problem is that she does not want to be seen to change from the view she expressed during the election campaign, then the carbon tax backflip should be precedent enough to allow a rethink. If you want an example of an intelligent and courageous change of heart, look no further than the Catholic and Republican New York Senator Mark Grisanti on the floor of the house as he voted in the affirmative.

I have it on good authority that Prime Ministerial staffers were directly involved in making sure there was no quorum for the vote on gay marriage at the Victorian ALP conference, ensuring that the vote could not go ahead. They were also active on the phones trying to stop GetUp from bidding on the mid-Winter charity auction for dinner with the PM. As the social media would put it, WTF?

Apparently dining with same sex couples was not going to be an acceptable winning bid for ‘our’ PM. The problem is, stumping up $31,000 had proven to be the only way there was going to be any access for marriage equality advocates, access provided regularly and free of charge to its opponents.

This is not just about marriage equality. Electors are savvy enough to extrapolate the handling of this social justice issue to broader matters of government responsibility, trust and democratic representation.

The drive to achieve marriage equality is not going to go away. It cuts to the very emotional heart of a person not to have their primary love relationship recognised and respected as equal to those that differ only in the gender of the partner. On a practical level it is just not okay for same sex couples and our children to be denied the legal protections that are automatically conferred if your partner has a different gender.

Julia Gillard, the time has come to behave like a true leader of a democracy. Allow democratic processes to proceed unhindered. Listen to your political colleagues. Look at the opinion polls. You have no mandate for your position, either within your party or conferred by the Australian people. And check behind you to see whether the people who inadvertently elected you to lead the country are behind you. Most are them, as you would be aware, are not.

I was born in Australia. I grew up here. I love this country. But today, I think I will fantasize for a moment how it feels to be a New Yorker.

Speak Now: Australian perspectives on same-sex marriage

2011-07-28T23:55:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Speak Now blog.

Speak now: Australian perspectives on same-sex marriage, ed. Victor Marsh, is a new title from Clouds of Magellan Publishing, to be released in October 2011.

This blog will include announcements and news relating to this title.

Distribution to BOOKSHOPS will be through:

The title will be available to buy from the Clouds of Magellan website, globally through Amazon, and globally as an e-book.

Speak Now at publisher's website

Title details

Speak Now: Australian perspectives on same-sex marriage
Edited by Victor Marsh, PhD
Foreword by the Hon. Michael Kirby AC, CMG

Description: A collection of essays, reflections and personal stories that show the passion and depth around the issue of same-sex marriage.

Over thirty writers, a mix of activist and reflective voices, explore the legacy of the 2004 changes to the Australian Marriage Act, which now states—and which must be stated at every wedding—‘marriage is between a man and a woman’.

ISBN: [978-0-9807120-9-4]
Format: Paperback
Recommended Retail Price (RRP): $AUD 29.95
288pp.
234mm x 153mm [C Format]
Publisher: Clouds of Magellan http://www.cloudsofmagellan.net