(no subject)

[green_queen]

As part of the...whatever we're called, Campaign for Civil Unions or some such, I got a great email about this Rebecca Leighton blog post about what everyone can do to help with this situation, which I am going to repost here. THESE AREN'T MY WORDS! Don't link to me if you like them, link to Rebecca's post.

We're at a crucial time in the battle to see the Civil Partnerships Bill actually see the light of the day in the Legislative Assembly. With the federal government maintaining an hardline stance against the bill, our only real hope is to convince the territory government to plow on anyway. This is a battle we cannot afford to lose, and our one and only chance to stop a national "dog registration" scheme, something which could set the fight for civil unions back twenty years.

Even though there's been some concerning recent media reports, we're still in with a decent chance - the ACT government has always been strongly supportive of LGBT rights, have defied the feds before, and have a lot to lose with an election due in October and the Greens posing a serious threat to their majority. However, we've still got a way to go, and I won't feel comfortable until that bill hits the Assembly floor. I know quite a few people read this blog for updates on the bill's passage, so here's a few things you can do to help it get there:

First of all, the Campaign for Civil Unions has called a rally on March 29th, two days before the April sitting of the Assembly. If you're in Canberra, please try and make it - we need as many people as possible as there to show support for the bill as it stands.

If you're in the ACT, it would be a great help if you could write to the members of the Labor caucus urging them not to back down on their prior commitments:

Jon Stanhope: stanhope@act.gov.au

Simon Corbell: corbell@act.gov.au

Andrew Barr: barr@act.gov.au

Wayne Berry: berry@parliament.act.gov.au

Katy Gallagher: gallagher@act.gov.au

Mick Gentleman: gentleman@parliament.act.gov.au

John Hargreaves: hargreaves@act.gov.au

Karin MacDonald: macdonald@parliament.act.gov.au

Mary Porter: porter@parliament.act.gov.au

Thirdly, it would be great if we could get as many people as possible to write to federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland (R.McClelland.MP@aph.gov.au) and Kevin Rudd (via the form at http://www.pm.gov.au/contact/index.cfm) expressing your disapproval with their interference with the Civil Partnerships Bill. It's no secret that the religious right has been doing this - and it's absolutely crucial that we let these two know that we will not stand for having a second-class "dog registration" scheme forced upon us.

Finally, it'd be really nice if we could some cooperation from our brothers and sisters interstate on this one. This fight has major national implications, so we'd like to see it getting national attention. It only takes a few minutes to whip off a letter to the editor of the newspapers in your capital city, but this helps us get the message out there and up the pressure on the politicians concerned. We'd also love to see some support from the state-based LGBT rights lobby groups in other states, especially with regard to getting press releases out nationally around the time of the March 29 rally.

Even if you're not in Australia, it'd be fantastic if we could get some greater blogosphere coverage of this - it's such an important battle for LGBT rights in Australia that it'd be great to see it getting some attention from progressive allies around the world. The fate of this bill is still so very up in the air that there's the possibility of making a real difference in the outcome, and I would urge everyone out there to take a few minutes to help this campaign along.

Source

Green Queen

Comments

[melissajane14.livejournal.com]

whatever we're called, Campaign for Civil Unions or some such/

well we did reject Civil Unions Network for the Territory *snigger*

but seriously, excellent post :)

[whenwill-love.livejournal.com]

I'd love to help, but I'm in the US...would it do any good for me to email people?