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Same-sex marriage, equal rights, anti-homophobia policies in schools, an equal age of consent, a bill of rights and universal student unionism were among the demands made during the Brisbane leg of the National Day of Action on Sunday.
About 100 LGBTs and their supporters assembled under the statue of Queen Victoria in Queen’s Gardens to hear several speakers and later march through the city streets.
The protesters, who were marking the anniversary of the federal parliament’s ban on same-sex marriage in 2004, reserved one of their biggest cheers for a speaker who denounced marriage altogether.
“I have to mention the ‘M’ word, marriage,” Australian Services Union spokesperson Jo Justo told the assembled protesters.
“My T-shirt says it all: ‘Marriage is a human right not a heterosexual privilege’ – apart from one small thing: I think marriage sucks.
“I think marriage is a patriarchal, feudal vestige, or so my partner says. We need to get the church the hell out of the state.
“Make a system of relationship laws for all Australians, separate the ceremony from the legal and if you want to choose a white frock in a Catholic church, go right ahead. Just don’t put your rosaries on my ovaries,” she said.
Justo also called for an Australian bill of rights to “protect all Australians, indigenous, queer, homeless, those with different abilities, new Australians, everyone”.
“With a bill of human rights, with us all respected, valued and equal, we can look to our politicians and say, ‘Here – your job is to make laws that ensure our rights, those enshrined in a bill of rights, are protected’.”
QUT Student Guild spokesperson Elise Auriac said Australians already supported equal rights.
“We do not need to debate the demands for equal rights or whether strategies to overcome homophobia in schools should be granted or not. The wider community believes in equality for all, regardless of sexuality.
“It’s no longer a question of why, it’s a question of when.
“While 51 to 77 per cent of Australians support marriage rights for same-sex couples, the government will not act. And while human rights groups and lobby groups have established that sexuality is not grounds for discrimination, homophobia festers in schools – an institution that perhaps should be most supportive of diversity, especially of young people,” she said.
Auriac said the Howard Government’s Voluntary Student Unionism (VSU) policy had hit campus queer and women’s departments the hardest, and that this would impact on the level of queer activism in the wider community.
“Australian students voted for change last year against VSU, against discrimination, against homophobia. The new government needs to bring about the change we demand,” she said.
QUT Queer Collective spokesperson Ingrid Nielsen called for an equal age of consent in Queensland.
“This [current] law actively impedes the level of acceptance, inclusion and support which our society allows to same sex attracted youth,” she said.
“The current situation leaves many sexually active young people without vital support and health information.
“Major community service groups such as Family Planning Queensland, Queensland Association for Healthy Communities and Brisbane Sexual Health have advised that they do not target services toward ‘men who have sex with men’ who are aged 16 to 18, because of the prevailing perception that such sexual activities might be illegal,” Nielsen said.
Queensland Greens spokesperson Glenn Martin called on the wider community to support same-sex marriage.
“Even if you aren’t gay yourself, you should be able to empathise with the cause; for if it was your way of life, your rights, your happiness that was under threat and discrimination, you would want the support of the wider community,” Martin said.
“There is a simple response for someone who says, ‘I don’t think gays should marry’. The response is, ‘I believe in equal rights, period. I don’t think the state should be in the business of telling people who can or can’t marry. Marriage is about love and commitment, and denying lovers the right to marry is a violation of human dignity’.
“Every Australian should have full choice and full equality. Nothing less should be tolerated. Gay rights, awareness and acceptance have come a long way in recent times, but we still have a long way to go.”
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