Equality Australia launches to continue fight against LGBTI discrimination
Image: Equality Australia's Anna Brown
The Equality Campaign will relaunch as Equality Australia as the minds behind the marriage equality campaign look forward to future battles for LGBTI rights.
Equality Australia will look to take the fight to Prime Minister Scott Morrison over LGBTI discrimination exemptions in religious and private schools next year.
The new organisation will operate under incoming CEO Anna Brown, now former Director of Legal Advocacy at the Human Rights Law Centre and former Co-Chair of The Equality Campaign.
Brown will be joined at Equality Australia by Lee Carnie and Michelle Bennett, who will also remain in their roles at HRLC.
The HRLC has been instrumental in many of the LGBTI rights won in recent years, including marriage equality and the聽
Equality Australia’s launch comes in the wake of .
“When we work together, we have the power to change laws and change lives,” Equality Australia’s website reads.
“Faith-based schools are allowed to legally expel trans and gay students, as well as fire teachers because of their sexuality or gender identity.
“People born with intersex (a combination of male and female) biological characteristics are considered broken and subjected to 鈥榥ormalising鈥� treatments and surgeries as infants and children before they can ever give consent.
“So-called 鈥榗onversion therapy鈥� is still happening inside certain religious communities that see gay and trans people as sick and broken, instead of human and whole.
“There are voices we still need to amplify, stories we still need to tell and wrongs we still need to right.”
Under Brown, the organisation will focus primarily on legal advocacy and reform.
“We know we have the power to change laws and change lives. We鈥檙e here聽to show politicians that our community is a force to be reckoned with,” Brown said.
that Equality Australia will make use of $500,000 of funds leftover from the marriage equality campaign, and seek to fundraise from those who supported The Equality Campaign on the long road to legalising same-sex marriage.
“If we’re going to do this, it’s going to take every one of us,” Brown said in a video introducing the organisation.
“And we have to get started right now.”
For more information head to .
I enjoy watching ultra-right reactionary Rohan Dean on Outsiders on a Sunday, I usually can only stomach 10 minutes or so, but it’s some incredibly entertaining shrieking going on.
He was furious that White magazine closed down after sponsors dumped it when they declined to cover gay weddings. “We were told nothing would change when same sex marriage came in” he ranted, completely forgetting that this was a free market issue and he loves the free market. So imagine his reaction to this news that the anti-discrimination campaign keeps rolling on.
The fact, “conservative” reactionary dickheads, is that you brought this on. Tony Abbott couldn’t be a normal conservative and adhere to the High Court ruling that this was firmly a matter for Federal Parliament, he had to go all “You can’t trust politicians” and have a plebiscite. Not conservative to declare war when none was needed, that’s reactionary. Then they got absolutely smashed in the popular vote, unbelievably played the victim card and demanded a religious freedom inquiry. Not conservative to demand an inquiry when you don’t already know the answers, Margaret Thatcher would be rolling in her grave. The answers turned out to be so bad we still only have leaked extracts from a report which was due six months ago.
And now entirely thanks to the Tony Abbott / Rohan Dean / Milo Whatever crowd a whole new range of battles have opened up, and they’re going to lose all of them. If they were true conservatives they never would have gotten into this mess, but they’re reactionary dickheads and they deserve to lose and lose and lose.
Keep up the great work Equality Australia. Keep it sensible, rational and reasonable and let your enemies bring on these dumb battles, and you’ll go great.