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20 Jun 2011

Gay activists in Australia pay A$31,100 to grill Australia PM over dinner

Community advocacy organisation GetUp and Australian Marriage Equality (AME) have outbid high-power business executives to win an online charity auction and will send three same-sex couples to discuss same-sex marriage with PM Julia Gillard over dinner.

 

Australian prime minister Julia Gillard will have to play dinner host to three same-sex couples at her official residence in Canberra.

Australian prime minister Julia Gillard 

The charity auction, which targeted corporations and business leaders, was won by community advocacy organisation GetUp and and same-sex marriage advocacy group Australian Marriage Equality (AME), which jointly bid AUS$31,000 (US32,715) .

Calling herself a "cultural traditionalist", Gillard is known to be opposed to same-sex marriage.

She was quoted in the Australian Daily Telegraph as saying that her opposition is "because of the way our society is and how we got here... I think that there are some important things from our past that need to continue to be part of our present and part of our future."

However, she is to allow her Australian Labor Party members a conscience vote on the issue at this year's conference.

Sandy Miller and her fiancée Louise Bucke will be two of the Australians attending the dinner.Sandy and Louise are in a long-term, committed and loving relationship and have been engaged for the last two years – they have two children from Sandy’s previous marriage, Matthew (11) and Dylan (9).

GetUp has named a lesbian couple as one of the three couples to dine with the PM. Sandy Miller and Louise Bucke are engaged and live in Sydney with their two children from Miller's previous marriage.

"Our youngest often asks us 'Mummies are you going to be engaged forever? Why don't you get married?'," Sandy Miller said. "It has been hard trying to explain that our government won't let us get married and he doesn't understand why everyone else can get married and become a family legally and we can't." 

"We don't want to be considered special or better than anyone else, we only want the same rights as every other person and couple in Australia, the right to be legally married," Sandy said in a GetUp statement. "Until the government legally recognises that same sex couples are no different to heterosexual couples and should have the same and equal rights in every area in life including marriage, this discrimination will never end."

GetUp's national director, Simon Sheikh, vowed the six dinner guests would be couples in same-sex relationships "to make the case for marriage equality".

“The face-to-face time with the PM was billed as a ‘unique opportunity for corporate Australia’, but rather than dining with executives and business leaders Julia Gillard will be forced to make the case as to why these couples cannot have their relationships recognised in the same way other Australians do,” GetUp National Director Simon Sheikh said in a statement last week.

According to SX, GetUp and AME were also successful with a bid of $12,100 in winning a meal with three key Independent MPs – Bob Katter, Rob Oakeshott, and Tony Windsor – whose vote will be crucial to the debate.

“All loving couples, regardless of sexual orientation, should have equal access to legal marriage,” Australian Marriage Equality’s Alex Greenwich said. “Our hope is that those same-sex partners attending the dinner will help change the PM’s mind and bring an end to discrimination, so that one day soon their families will have the recognition and respect that other families have.”

Australia

讀者回應

1. 2011-06-20 20:20  
Although im not an australian nor live in australia,,,i really hope this dinner will open the eyes of the prime minister, and lead to a better life of gay ppl in australia...
Our world needs more ppl like them who work so hard to be able to get the dinner deal with the prime minister to change the gay future...
2. 2011-06-20 20:43  
Matthew, the problem isn't just with the Prime Minister. The problem is that there are a number of religious lobby groups that hold a lot of influence in both the Liberal and Labour party upper ranks and so they are scared to allow a conscience vote in the Parliament.

I for one would love to be a fly on the wall at the dinner.
回應#3於於2011-08-13 17:21被作者刪除。
4. 2011-06-20 22:02  
Yea i know...They have to deal with lots of ppl who think gay is sin...
5. 2011-06-20 22:39  
Though I doubt the PM will have a sudden change of heart, this sends a larger message to the political establishment that we are willing to put "our money where our mouth is" on issues important to us. Politicians listen best to someone with influence (whether it is power or voting blocks) and m-o-n-e-y. Funding, campaign contributions, etc. is a necessary evil in most political elections worldwide. If we show up with our wallets, it will mean more to the people in power than a march down a street with rainbow flags waving.
6. 2011-06-20 22:41  
hope the PM will have a change of heart, i hope she would at least try to see the world through our gay eyes...
7. 2011-06-21 00:12  
Of course a politician know gay is not sin. Being a politician mean say words MAJORITY ppl like to hear.

Y not invite pope for Mardi Gras dinner one day? hehe
8. 2011-06-21 00:27  
dont trust her, why wasting money
9. 2011-06-21 00:34  
"Cultural traditionalist" is a lame excuse. She can't even bring herself to marry her partner of 5 years. If marriage is one of those "important things from our past that need to continue to be part of our present and part of our future", then she's a hypocrite.
If she allows herself the freedom to not marry, what right does she have to stop others who are in love from doing so?
10. 2011-06-21 02:46  
They should tell Julia that she owes me about €10 for photoshopping some fluff off her sensible cardigan in a photo we had to publish recently of her meeting an Irish minister. Her cardigan looked quite untidy, and I kindly tidied away the fluff and specks of dust before we printed her shot.

However, my skills have a price and, as Ireland is buried in a long-term financial crisis, but Australia is not, I reckon she can cough up the cash. G'day, Julia...
11. 2011-06-21 03:27  
In Australia it's ok to have a woman PM, living unmarried with her partner. In what way are either of those things "culturally traditional"?
12. 2011-06-21 05:56  
I can't stand how sloooooowly she talks lolz
13. 2011-06-21 06:09  
Kumabro_oz ... TOO RIGHT, MATEY!
14. 2011-06-21 08:43  
GetUp is not a gay rights organisation but an independent political movement. They run creative and positively subversive campaigns that gets people involved and gives them a voice in politics.

The good thing: Julia is an open and proud atheist. There are already plenty of religious nutters blaming natural disasters on her lack of belief.

The bad thing: as a politician she will still likely bow to what she thinks is the majority conservative viewpoint.

We shall see.
15. 2011-06-21 12:57  
I'm surprised Australia hasn't got gay marriage yet. I'm sure it'll just be a matter of time. When the new generation of PMs come into power, we'll see big change the world over.
回應#16於於2011-06-21 15:01被作者刪除。
17. 2011-06-21 15:01  
It is a great opportunity for the gay couple to bring this issue on the dinning plates. I do not know how they are going to communicate. Julia is straight and living with a partner without marriage. The gay couple live together but they are not allowed to get married because SHE is Calling herself a "cultural traditionalist". I am wondering whether her parents and grandparents were ever married living together. lol lol She is confused, wake up, babe. Hey, Julia, you aren't cultural traditionalist, you are cultural shocked for your private life. Perhaps you have to go back to school to learn "English". "Cultural traditionalist" lol A couple living together without marriage is cultural shock and SIN in the eyes of GOD (Her official religion), I hope she has one. lol

Sorry, Julia, shame on you. My English isn't Good but I do not dare to use this word to proclaim myself as a cultural traditionalist if I were you, you better go to church and ask Jesus to punish your SIN because u r living with a man without marriage. Getting fucked by her boyfriend/living partner without marriage is SIN. lol. She is not a right PM for Australia unless Australians want to remain in an old traditional culture (outdated culture). Please open her eyes to take a look at other western countries. GAYS have the right to live without your personal judgement and abuse. Any laws that discriminate base on gender or sexual orientation should be removed. She is a female, traditional speaking, a man should be a PM, not a female. Right? Julia. You should resign and be a traditional woman, take care of your husband and be a house wife. Be a good girl, waiting for your husband every night to produce babies. Then u r 100% cultural traditionalist. lol lol lol
18. 2011-06-21 16:38  
New Zealand is far more open and have had many same sex rights passed in parliament years ago. Yet compared to Australia, New Zealanders are more conservative. Australia needs to look across the ditch and learn how to deal with these issues properly and fairly. After all, Sydney's gay Mardi Grass is one of the biggest in the world. It seems for that 1 week in a year it is more than excepted to be out and gay, as long as the tourist $ are flowing. Compared to other commonwealth countries Australia is decades behind.
19. 2011-06-21 18:20  
I don't know about the marital laws in Australia but in US, straight couples can get married overnight to complete strangers - like Britney Spears infamously did. Ridiculous that stable gay couples who have been together for years cannot have the same rights.

And "cultural traditionalist"? It wasn't til fairly recently that the world accepted mixed race marriages. Prior to that it was considered very NON-traditionalist!!! Yet nowadays, mixed race marriages are so common place that people don't even think about it.

The Australian PM will not bow down to any minority pressure. Look at how she refused to meet the Dalai Lama because of China's economic and diplomatic pressure.

Well done to Getup for trying though. Better to try and have a chance of success than not try at all. After all, as the Chinese saying goes - the journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. I look forward to hearing how the dinner went too!
20. 2011-06-21 19:58  
she's simply playing it safe so as to not get the more conservative voters too far estranged basicall she knows that 'gay marriage' is not even really a big concern amongst most Homosexual men or woman, I know no guys who have fantasies of strolling down the aisle in Vera Wang(ky) gowns though of course I do know a trangendered woman who did it but then she got her sex changed legally so was able to, I have a sister who has 5 sons and never married has been with her partner 20 odd years all my other siblings married divorced and moved on with other partners marriage means and proves nothing I couldn't give a toss about marriage how ever I do support a separate form of relationship recognition whereby same sex attracted, opposites sex attracted monogamists and people in plural relationships can have equal access under law
修改於2011-06-21 20:01:42
回應#21於於2011-06-21 20:10被作者刪除。
22. 2011-06-21 20:45  
I bet a wry smile crossed the face of Penny Wong when she heard the news.
23. 2011-06-21 21:27  
i doubt the dinner will go well.

just wondering if the money could have been better spent on supporting some politician parties or figures that support the cause instead?
24. 2011-06-21 21:59  
wiggy@20...clearly you do give a toss about marriage as you always come online slagging it off and opposing it for gay men as if it makes a difference to you if someone else can get married...by the way gay people don't often refer to themselves as homosexuals its kind of like being called queer only more clinical. My guess is her (PM's) cowardice around giving gay people equal rights is down to big donors to the Labor Party or kowtowing to influential press barons.
25. 2011-06-22 02:11  
Dear 19

"Look at how she refused to meet the Dalai Lama because of China's economic and diplomatic pressure."

Thanks for letting us know this shocking news. Let me share you my news. How Canadian government loves, treats and hates Chinese communist? Here we gave China a BIG Fuck !!!! Perhaps our sex was too good, we are still having good relationship. lol Sex is always good to build relationship. Julia. Learn from gay, you will know.....

"Dalai Lama granted honorary Canadian citizenship in 2006." Wasn't it cool? Australians, please change your female Chinese DOG, shame shame shame.


Come one, she scared of China? lol Chinese cock is not very big, oh perhaps........ Well, guys, need your imagination please. lol Sorry to be so rude to her. For me, she has to stand up for her own country, Australia is Australia, has nothing to do with China. If she is not dare to face China in Australia, be China PM then, lol Dalai Lama has nothing to do with Australia and China. Look at USA, Canada and many European countries, Dalai Lama visited them. lol Did China do anything to them? Come on, China can be big but Can't control the world. Julia, you are stupid. I want you to know, U LOOK FUCKING WEAK IN YOUR LEADERSHIP. SHAME ON YOU AND AUSTRALIANS.
26. 2011-06-22 09:00  
I think she will change the menu now that she is expecting different guests than business executives. I would love to be a fly at that dinner table, but I am sure everyone will conduct themselves in a polite manner and clink glasses and respect different opinions. Its really a waste of money and a stunt, because she is not going to change. The money would be better spent on helping needy kids. It is just a waste of money for a meaningless political stunt. Having dinner with her is like having dinner with an old spinster who is deaf. She is not going to hear one word these nice gay families are saying.
27. 2011-06-22 11:20  
I agree with those who think that the money could have been used for another purpose.
I doubt this lady will change her mind. Even if she will (hopefully) listen and even pretend to show that behind her words, she is not that narrow minded, she perfectly knows where her interests lie.
If ever she was to change, that would affect the people who vote for her for they will feel betrayed, as well as changes in her carreer. I don't believe politicians would risk that - they cling too much to whatever power they have.
A politician who truly believes in the welfare of people needs to have a broader perspective on things, try to open people's mind and lead them to accept differences of lives and opinions. Not be self-righteous.
It would have been better to find friends of hers who are gay - I can't believe she hasn't got any, to do the talking to her. ^^

Anyway all the best and good luck to those couples.
28. 2011-06-22 18:34  
lagunabro@26, I disagree that it's a waste of money, though they shouldn't have to go to such lengths or expense to get a hearing from the PM. By contrast in the UK the Conservative Prime Minister is hosting a reception at 10 Downing Street for LGBT's as the Pride season begins, continuing a tradition started by the previous government. I'm sure you don't have to pay to get in.
29. 2011-06-23 09:01  
Put another one on the barbie ;-)
30. 2011-06-24 14:13  
Time for a change now, let's make this world equal to everyone.

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