www.galewa.asn.au

YOUR REGULAR

UPDATE FROM

GAY & LESBIAN

EQUALITY (WA) GALEForce

TAKE ACTION

Concerned about the rising tide of

fundamentalism in the Liberal Party?

1. Read the article

A PDF of Amanda O’Brien’s article is

over at the GALE website:

www.galewa.asn.au

2. Write to the Premier

You can express your concerns to

Premier Colin Barnett by email to:

premier.barnett@dpc.wa.gov.au

or by phone to 08 9222 9888 or by

post to:

The Hon. Colin Barnett

Premier of Western Australia

24th Floor, 197 St Georges Tce

Perth WA 6000

3. Contact your local MPs

Check out the WA Parliament web to

find your MLA and your six MLCs are:

www.parliament.wa.gov.au

Follow the link to “Members” and find

out their contact details.

4. Stay informed

Join the GALE Red Alert email list to

stay informed of campaign actions:

www.galewa.asn.au

The new Liberal culture warriors? By Rod Swift, GALE media spokesperson

During the 2008 state election, GLBTI

advocates including GALE raised concerns

about a looming threat To equality laws

after the Liberal Party preselected a

number of candidates with fundamentalist

Christian backgrounds.

Many of those candidates now sit as MPs in the

Legislative Assembly. Next month, even more

new MPs will join the parliament when the term

of the new Legislative Council commences.

Do these new politicians represent a real risk to

gay and lesbian law reform?

Just after the election, former Australian

Democrats Senator Brian Greig wrote about the

challenge faced by Premier Colin Barnett in

keeping the theocrats and homophobes on his

party's backbench at heel to maintain his fragile

hold on government.

That challenge will become difficult over the

next few years when Premier Barnett's religious

backbenchers flex their brand of so-called

'muscular Christianity'.

An article by Amanda O'Brien in The Weekend

Australian newspaper on 4 April 2009 – titled

'Church and state reunited' – details the coming

balancing act Premier Barnett faces as moral

issues like prostitution and drug laws return to

parliament.

The article details the background of some of

these new Liberal MPs: religious pastor Peter

Abetz in the seat of Southern River, former

pastor Ian Britza in Morley, former church

volunteer Albert Jacob in Ocean Reef, and Tony

Krsticevic in Carine.

Thirteen new lower house MPs were elected last

year, and Ian Britza says nearly all of them hold

similar views: "We do have a powerful bloc. We

meet pretty regularly; we have a little debates

among us so that when the time comes we are

unified bloc or we know where we are at."

The article also describes how these MPs were

forced to support the recent passage of

surrogacy laws, with Peter Abetz saying that

they'll be prepared to fight back the next time a

moral issue comes up.

There are even more religious MPs entering the

Legislative Council, like Nick Goiran in the South

Metropolitan region.

It is now clear that to protect equality in WA, our

community must respond. Each and every one

of us can start by writing to the Premier, and to

these and other MPs, expressing our concerns

and asking for a guarantee on gay rights.

For more ideas and help on how you can make

a difference, or to read the article from The

Weekend Australian, check out the GALE

website at www.galewa.asn.au.

Also, a full list of MPs' contact details is

available at the WA Parliament website.

Inside this issue

The coming culture war? 1

Perth Human Rights Consultation 2

1 Aug 2009: National Day of Action 3

New anti-homophobia website 3

Get active 4

…plus a petition to Parliament, and more!

I S S U E

J U N E 2 0 0 9

2009:01

Convenor’s report

GALE will be shortly

launching a number of

campaigns and lobbying

the government to

address issues affecting

same-sex attracted and

transgendered people in

both State and Federal

law, particularly in

relation to civil unions,

same-sex marriage and

discrimination within

religious organisations.

Along with these

campaigns, we will be

keeping a close eye fixed

upon our politicians –

both local and interstate –

with the regular GALE

political watchdog and

community focus column

that you can find in Out in

Perth.

Now that the conservative

WA government is

officially in power, there

are legitimate concerns

about the Barnett

Government's attitude

towards GLBTI equality.

In 2005, Premier Colin

Barnett pledged to raise

the age of consent for

homosexual males.

GALE co-convenor Kitty

Hawkins discusses

recent developments in

GLBTI law reform… and

what the future months

holds.

HUMAN RIGHTS

CONSULTATION

VISITS PERTH

On 12 May 2009, the

Human Rights

Consultation rolled into

Perth. Despite over

60% of Australians

supporting the creation

of a Human Rights Act,

we are yet to do so –

therefore leaving

Australia lagging behind

other Western nations

on having a

comprehensive human

rights framework.

GALE attended both the

morning and afternoon

sessions of this particular

consultation and ensure

that GLBTI human rights

were heard by this all-

important consultation

process.

Readers will be pleased to

know that equal rights for

GLBTI people and their

families were high on the

agenda for the majority of

the participants.

You can also check out

the Freedom Centre's

campaign, 'Faces For

Freedom', for an

opportunity to make a

fun, photographic

submission to the Human

Rights Consultation.

More information is at the

Consultation’s website at: humanrightsconsultation.gov.au

During the 2008 State

Election, he was caught

out denying the policy ever

existed.

Barnett's porky pies put

him squarely in the GLBTI

naughty-corner, and

unfortunately it doesn't

seem like he'll be the only

homophobic in the village

from here on in.

The new Minister for Child

Protection and Women's

Interests, Robyn

McSweeney, previously

made very thinly-veiled

comparisons between

paedophilia and

homosexual sex. And Rob

Johnson, the new Police

Minister, referred to the

Pride Parade as 'an

opportunity for

homosexual predators to

persuade young people to

adopt the homosexual way

of life'.

Graham Jacobs, the

Minister for Mental Health,

has a track record of being

anti-gay and now has the

power to potentially cut

the funding to GLBTI

community groups such as

GLCS. Worrying?

Definitely.

On a more positive note, it

looks as though the

Federal Government has

committed $300,000 to

NGOs to educate the

GLBTI community about

the implications that the

Federal reforms, due to

come in on 1 July 2009,

will have on services such

as Centrelink for same-sex

partners and their

families.

However, so far funding

has only been allocated to

organisations dedicated to

HIV/AIDS and GLBTI

health issues. Confused?

So are we.

The Australian Bureau of

Statistics have also

announced that the 2011

census will count

marriages between same-

sex couples.

Unfortunately, this is the

only recognition of couples

have been married

overseas in countries that

allow same-sex marriages.

Still, it's a start. — Kitty Hawkins kitty@galewa.asn.au

“... Barnett's porky

pies put him

squarely in the

GLBTI naughty-

corner, and

unfortunately it

doesn't seem like

he'll be the only

homophobic in

the village...”

ONLINE LINKS

On Twitter?

See our tweets...

If you’re the

technological type, then

you can now follow GALE

using our official Twitter

feed.

Just follow the user

'galewa' and you'll be

kept informed of coming

events, GLBTI news

headlines as well as

updates to our website.

www.twitter.com/galewa

On Facebook?

Link up with us...

If you’re into the

Facebook craze, you can

also link up with other

GALE supporters at our

group’s page.

Facebook links are

annoyingly long to type

in, so we shortened it.

Just surf the web to this

link to join up.

bit.ly/galewafacebook

A Galaxy Poll released in

mid-June has found 59%

of Western Australians

support same-sex couples

being able to marry under

Australian law.

So why is it that the Federal

Government is still

supporting a viewpoint only

being held by a minority in

the community?

In the lead up to the fifth

anniversary of the ban on

same-sex marriage, WA’s

GLBTI community and activist

groups will be joining forces

to plan the annual National

Day of Action against the

ban, in August 2009.

The Perth event will be one of

a series of protest actions

right across Australia and we

are seeking supporters to

help us participate in this day

of protest and send a clear

message to the Rudd

Government that the ban on

same-sex marriages is not

supported by the majority of

Australians.

More details of the protest's

location and date will be

available from our website at

www.galewa.asn.au soon, so

keep checking back for more

information.

If you'd like to get involved in

organising the event, please

contact Kitty Hawkins on

0414 13 37 37, or by e-mail

to kitty@galewa.asn.au

Anti-homophobia website launched for IDAHO

Celebrating the International Day

Against Homophobia on 17 May 2009,

a new web site was launched to publish

the faces of people affected by

homophobia.

The new website at

www.stophomophobiatoday.com features

pictures of celebrities and everyday

individuals who have uploaded photos of

themselves with their message of tolerance

and acceptance.

Long-time GALE supporters Kelly and Sam

Pilgrim-Byrne, and their daughter Charlotte,

sent in this picture. Check out the website

for many more.

Coming up: Marriage NDA — get involved!

BREAKING NEWS:

Majority of West Aussies support GLBTI marriage

PO Box 420 Northbridge WA 6865

www.galewa.asn.au

Some things you can do for GLBTI equality...

• Join GALE or donate some time or money to help our work.

A membership and donation form is attached to this newsletter. Your membership and

donation helps fund GALE’s work and keeps you informed. Consider donating some time to

help with keeping equality.

• Spread the word about fundamentalism in WA’s parliament.

See page 1 for details of the rise of religious fundamentalists in the Liberal Party, and the risk

to GLBTI human rights. Talk with your friends and family and encourage them to write in too.

You might even want to give them a copy of this newsletter.

• Collect signatures for the petition calling for de facto certification.

A copy of our petition is attached asking the WA Parliament to consider a registry and

certificate for de factos (i.e. civil unions). Please help us by getting your friends, family and work

colleagues to sign up, then send it in to us.

• Come help us protest the marriage ban.

See page 3 for more details of the National Day of Action in August.

Get Active:

Here's a quick list of

some of the things

you can do right now

to help win and pro-

tect GLBTI human

rights in WA.

GALEForce Issue 2009:01 June

PO Box 420 Northbridge WA 6865

www.galewa.asn.au

Your details:

Name(s): _______________________________________________________

Postal Address: _______________________________________________________

Home Telephone: ________________ Mobile Telephone: __________________

Email Address: _______________________________________________________

I would like to:

receive activist alerts by email

volunteer time to GALE events

take part in GALE project work

Membership Type: Donation Amount:

Organisations -- $50 Platinum Donor -- $1000

Couple Members -- $30 Gold Donor -- $500

Standard Member -- $20 Silver Donor -- $250

Unwaged Member -- $10 Bronze Donor -- $100

Other Donation -- $________

Payment Method:

Direct Deposit Cheque

Money Order Cash

Direct Deposit: Now you can pay your membership or make a donation directly to GALE using direct deposit

from your financial institution. Contact rsvp@galewa.asn.au for more information.

The

Cheque and Money Orders: Please make cheques and money orders payable to Gay and Lesbian Equality

(WA) Inc.

Send your completed forms to:

Gay and Lesbian Equality (WA) Inc

PO Box 420

Northbridge WA 6865

MEMBERSHIP AND DONATION FORM

Please return this petition to Gay and Lesbian Equality (WA) Inc., PO Box 420, Northbridge WA 6865.

This petition must not be altered and only original signatures are permitted. Faxed copies of signatures cannot be accepted.

PETITION IN RELATION TO DE FACTO RELATIONSHIP REGISTRATION AND CERTIFICATION

To the President and Members of the Legislative Council of the Parliament of Western Australia, in

Parliament assembled.

We, the undersigned residents of Western Australia, acknowledge that law reforms enacted by the

Western Australian Parliament has allowed both same-sex and opposite-sex de facto couples to

now be treated similar to married couples under WA law.

Whereas couples married under the Marriage Act 1961 (Commonwealth) are entered into a

registry and thence issues with a certificate, de facto couples are not able to access a similar

registry under WA law and hence have no certificate to prove that their relationship exists.

Your petitioners therefore respectfully request the Legislative Council to support the enactment of

further law reforms to create a registration and certification scheme for de facto couples in WA

law.

PETITION

Full Name Full Address Signature