They marched in Sydney and in Melbourne. In Brisbane and in Hobart, Adelaide and Perth. Canberra too. And with what LGBT community Same Same are calling “the largest ever mass co-ordinated protests for gay equality in Australian history” they made their voices, and the growing concerns surrounding Australia’s draconian Gay Marriage laws, heard.
Dubbed the Equal Love campaign, Saturday saw simultaneous marches in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Canberra, Adelaide and Hobart draw in over 10,000 Gay Rights supporters across the country. Sydney’s rally took place at Town Hall with a little help from Comedian Wil Anderson who dutifully maintained that social and legal acceptance of Gay Marriage is an inevitability: “I have full confidence that one day gay marriage will be legal in this country. I have confidence in this because it’s the right thing to do. But right now Australia has a choice. We can help lead the world, or we can be dragged reluctantly out of the dark ages. Let’s not get dragged kicking and screaming, let’s lead the march,“.
Melbourne’s rally also received a shot of local star power with MTV presenter Ruby Rose offering a simpler but no less effective take on why Gay Equal Rights is a societal necessity: “It’s really not a big deal. It’s about human rights, it’s about getting rid of discrimination, and treating everyone equally. It’s not just about the law, it’s about letting people love.”
Amen to that. Hopefully this great country, which so proudly spruiks tolerance as an innately Aussie cultural virtue, joins the likes of Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Iceland, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Spain and Sweden as places where same-sex marriage is both recognized and granted. Keeping in mind that the same-sex Civil Union (which provides some of the legal and financial benefits afforded to us straighties) is currently recognized in Victoria, Tasmania and The ACT but is by no means a symbol of absolute equality.
Videos from the march as well as a gay rights endorsement video from Andrew Denton below…
