The arrogance of the ALP, baldly declaring that it wouldn’t be legislating for marriage equality without caring how many of the majority of Australians who support it came out in its support. The lameness of its half-arsed, pointless “compromise” on the issue. (There is no compromise possible on the subject of equality, Kevin.) The crapness of our online news networks, few of which – several hours after the rallies ended – seem to have noticed the thousands of Australians around the country who made a stand against bigotry and discrimination.
Well, it did happen, and here are some photographs from the Melbourne rally – well-attended despite thick grey clouds and a bit of rain at the start:
What do we want? Same sex marriage! When do we want it? Now!
Kevin Rudd and the ALP have achieved nothing today but to give the bigots the briefest of respites. History will not look kindly on them for it. Because the silent majority of Australians – who support justice and equality – have started to stand up and be counted. Those who’ve previously managed to force their prejudices on the rest of us won’t get their way for too much longer.
Some more photos:
UPDATE: The Age has finally covered the Melbourne rally. They record almost 4,000 as having attended. As does the Hun.
UPDATE #2: Keri has some more of our photos.
UPDATE #3: Other people’s photos here.
UPDATE #4: And if anyone doesn’t think this matters, check out what the new head of the AMA thinks about homosexual relationships. The only way to counter this sort of prejudice is with real equality.
UPDATE #5: If you got here via Crikey, they meant “for”, not “against”!
29 responses so far ↓
Susan // 1 August, 2009 at 7:34 pm
http://www.theage.com.au/national/crowd-of-thousands-call-for-equal-love-in-melbourne-20090801-e52g.html
confessions // 1 August, 2009 at 8:25 pm
Melbourne beat Sydney – 1500 reported as attended in sydney.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,25866486-421,00.html
And yeah, piss poor effort Kev and labor!
Jeremy // 1 August, 2009 at 8:56 pm
Yes, that link was in the update.
joni // 1 August, 2009 at 9:43 pm
Here are some photos that my bf took of the Sydney rally.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=298193&id=692640174
Brokenleftleg // 1 August, 2009 at 10:14 pm
Thank God for Rudd. My marriage is now safe, and nobody will be able to marry animals and/or inanimate objects in Australia.
Jeremy // 1 August, 2009 at 10:27 pm
Wouldn’t jest – it’s idiots who seriously pretend to believe that who are holding the rest of us, the principled majority who believe in equality and fairness, to ransom.
Richard Ryan // 2 August, 2009 at 5:16 am
WHAT I like about gay marriages, is that it cuts down on abortions.
Galf // 2 August, 2009 at 9:17 am
Well, in the media’s defence *grinding teeth whenever I feel the urge to help them* – there would seem to have been 3million 996,000 people in Melbourne who found ’something else to do’ that morning. The Frankston Bombers footy team pie night could get 4000 people…
Make a judgement – it may be a worthy cause – but not necessarily a note-worthy event.
confessions // 2 August, 2009 at 10:22 am
via a commenter at LP, submissions to the Australian Marriage Equality senate inquiry close 28th Aug.
http://www.australianmarriageequality.com/senatesubmission.htm
Jeremy // 2 August, 2009 at 10:59 am
Galf – it was a fairly major protest.
I doubt very much the Frankston Bombers footy team pie night would get 4,000 people. That 4,000 people braved a grey, rainy morning to stand up for equality is certainly noteworthy.
The Hun was running Wheatley selling his mansion as the lead story, for god sake.
joni // 2 August, 2009 at 1:51 pm
Here is a clip I made of the rally in Sydney:
Kaboom // 2 August, 2009 at 6:23 pm
This is just weird.
Labor conference policy AGAINST the concept of gay marriage. WTF?
I personally have no problem at all with gay marriage – why should the poofs be happy all the time?
forester // 2 August, 2009 at 6:53 pm
Both major parties think they know what’s best for you…
http://www.ldp.org.au/federal/policies/lifestyleChoices.html
Jeremy // 2 August, 2009 at 11:39 pm
Well, that’s nice, but I think there are plenty of gay people who just want to partake in marriage, not change it for straight people.
Would the LDP, if it were in parliament now, vote for the Greens’ equality bill?
SB // 3 August, 2009 at 10:19 am
While Australia is moving towards ending legal discrimination and abolishing restrictions on who people are allowed to marry, spare a thought for the plight of gays in the middle East.
Jeremy // 3 August, 2009 at 10:59 am
Very true. It’ll be a long time before bigotry and discrimination end everywhere. But we should do everything we can to bring the date that happens forward.
confessions // 3 August, 2009 at 9:42 pm
Jeremy: the high court, the constitution and same sex marriage (sourced from comment @ PB).
To my untrained and inexpert lay person eye, it looks as if it isn’t so cut and dried as parliament changing the definition.
Avoiding the issue - Pure Poison // 4 August, 2009 at 9:30 am
[...] they’re not comfortable coming out clearly for one side or the other. Take gay marriage. The well-attended rallies around the country on Saturday put the issue back on the table (even as the ALP tried desperately to take it back off [...]
Galf // 4 August, 2009 at 10:50 am
*chuckle* Sorry Jez, but I think you over-estimate how exiting Frankston is on a day-to-day basis…
Again – just so we’re clear – happily support gay marriage as a cause. BUT, 4000 people just isn’t noteworthy. Or perhaps ‘noteworthy enough’ is a better phrase. Frankly, a rally of so few people – less than a suburban flower show, less than nightly attendance of the Melb. Int Film Festival, less than got lap-dances in the CBD last weekend… it’s just not noteworthy.
To get this issue up, we need to change tactics. Full stop. Rallies, protests, – they DON’T WORK ANYMORE.
I wouldn’t bother sending anyone to cover it, either. 4000? It’s a dead issue.
Tim // 4 August, 2009 at 12:17 pm
@confessions: admittedly I am only a law student, but it seems to me highly unlikely that the High Court would strike down a legislative definition of marriage that encompassed same-sex relationships. Remember that the Howard government had to specifically change the Marriage Act to exclude same-sex marriage.
Given the number of international agreements re equality we’ve signed up for, it would almost certainly be within power under s 51(xxix) anyway.
Jeremy, you’re a lawyer (though I presume not a constitutional lawyer) – thoughts?
Jeremy // 4 August, 2009 at 1:07 pm
I’m not a constitutional lawyer, but I agree with your assessment. How could the High Court decide that the Commonwealth is going beyond its marriage power in defining marriage? What else is that power for?
Anyway, it’s no reason not to proceed – if the Court were to make such a crazy decision, then the responsibility would be placed clearly on the states. At the moment they say it’s up to the Federal Government.
National Marriage JUST FOR US day « An Onymous Lefty // 12 August, 2009 at 5:21 pm
[...] August, 2009 · Leave a Comment Anyone wondering why it was important to show the politicians Australia wants marriage equality should watch carefully as the religious right celebrates five [...]
Setiawan Dirgantara // 13 August, 2009 at 6:07 pm
Hi…. nice to visit here, Thanks.
I hope you visit me back
The second will be even bigger « An Onymous Lefty // 12 October, 2009 at 4:07 pm
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Mikhail Silverwood // 18 November, 2009 at 12:07 pm
Let’s have a world solidarity movement for gay rights activism. We saw, in America, 300,000 people come to Washington and march for equal rights.
It’s time we showed our American comrades that we too are fighting for equality and justice.
Everyone must come on November 28. It’s crucial that we back up August 1 with a big rally attended by as many people as possible.
It’s time we showed Rudd and Turnbull that enough is enough. The 4 years since Howard banned same-sex marriage have been oppressive and unjust.
We need to tell Rudd, if you don’t change the law, and legalise gay marriage, there’ll be more protests, and then things will really get out of hand.
There will be a post rally meeting in Melbourne.
Laim Byrne, a popular well-known gay-rights campaigner, will be giving a speech called ‘Sexuality and Capitalism: Why the stystem is to blame for homophobia?’
It’s at the Imperial Hotel (Bourke and Spring) which is just a short walk from where the rally will end.
Look forward to seeing you all there,
Mikhail Silverwood // 22 November, 2009 at 2:14 pm
What a homophobic news report from Channel Nine. At the start, they looked very liberal, talking about the inequality for same-sex couples.
But right at the end, just when you thought they wouldn’t do anything bigoted, we get the newsreporter suggesting a male couple and a female couple swap partners and get married. Oh, that’s brilliant. Heterosexual marriage is the answer to the homosexual marriage problem.
Absolutely disgraceful from Channel Nine.
(I found that footage on youtube; I didn’t see it live on television, because I was in the city at that time, at the Equal Love rally.)
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