Newly elected senator Louise Pratt who is the third openly gay member of the current senate - along with Greens leader Bob Brown and Climate Change Minister Penny Wong - has renewed the debate on gay marriage in Australia. She is also the first and only member of parliament known to have a transgendered partner.
In her maiden speech this week, Pratt, Senator for Western Australia said: "I look forward to a time when we will have removed at a federal level all discrimination on the grounds of gender identity and sexuality, to a time when my partner is not denied a passport because his gender is not recognised under our laws; to a time when my friends' children all enjoy the same rights and protections under commonwealth law regardless of whether their parents are straight or gay; to a time when if my gay friends wish to be legally married, they can be."
The 36-year-old revealed that her partner of two years Aram Hosie, came out as a lesbian at 15 and began transitioning to male in 2006 at the age of 23. He is reported to be the founding president of the Western Australia (WA) Gender Project which is currently lobbying for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to allow transgendered people to have a passport which states their new gender.
"Conservative forces in this country do not offer the kind of leadership we need to face this and other challenges. Far from it: they have a history of fostering division," she said.
She spoke of her experience in advocating equal rights as a state MP in WA. Prior to her election to the WA Legislative Council in 2001, she was spokesperson for Gay and Lesbian Equality, a prominent advocacy group.
"I was, and I remain, very proud to have been part of the West Australian government that completely removed this discrimination against same-sex couples and their children in all state laws," said the Labor member who was elected to the federal Senate last year.
WA's legislative reform included a complete ban on discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, access for same-sex couples to adopt children, lowering the age of consent from 21 to 16 and repealing legislation which had otherwise made it an offence to 'promote' homosexuality in schools.
Penny Wong: Senator for South Australia and Minister for Climate Change and Water on same-sex marriage
Earlier this month, Wong who made headlines last years for being the first openly gay member and the first Asian-born member of an Australian cabinet, was chided by the Australian gay press for toeing the party line on the issue of same-sex marriage. Maiden Speech - Reclaiming One Nation: 21 Aug 2002 criticised the Howard Government for overturning the Australian Capital Territory Civil Unions Act
Gay site Samesame.com.au quoted Wong as saying on Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Q&A programme, "My view is that I'm a member of the party, the party's got a very clear view and that is a view that is supported, let's be frank, by the vast majority of Australians."
She was criticised by Tim Wilson, another openly gay member of the panel and from the Institute of Public Affairs for her stance. "But what have you done, Penny Wong, from inside the party to advocate for an alternate position? There're two gay people on this panel, you and I, and I find it very frustrating that in your party room you may very well be vocal, but when you come out here you defend it. It's okay to have a different opinion from your party. I think the public expects that people have different perspective from time to time."
SX News's Sam Butler wrote in an Aug 6 column: "Wong of course has as much right to a private life as any other MP, and clearly she's not willing to adopt a 'personal is political' approach to her sexuality that underlies the perspectives of former Democrats Senator Brian Greig and (we hope) incoming Labor Senator Louise Pratt. And from all reports, Wong is one of the strongest internal allies of LGBTI law reform and equality.
"More's the pity, then, that she refuses to carry her admirable work beyond the closed doors of cabinet meetings, and into public forums, where she could easily inspire a generation of young women to be open, proud, and - perhaps most importantly - vocal, about being queer."
Bob Brown: Senator for Tasmania and leader of the Australian Greens on same-sex marriage
Elected to the Australian Senate for Tasmania in 1996, Brown is the first openly gay member of the Parliament of Australia and is an outspoken advocate for civil marriage for same-sex couples in Australia
"Like women getting the vote and Britain giving up its empire, gay marriage is inevitable. It's logical. It's part of the future," Brown said in 2004 when the Marriage Act was amended to recognise marriage to only be between a man and woman, and that same-sex marriages solemnised in other countries would not be recognised in Australia.
The Australianmarriageequality.com web site quotes Brown as saying, "In the 1950s there was a song which claimed 'Love and marriage... go together like a horse and carriage'. In the 2010s same-sex couples in Australia are treated like we are still in the horse and carriage age - and no marriage with love. The Greens will continue to campaign against the Rudd Government's regressive thinking."