Act now for Equality
GALE(WA) has provided several easy ways you can contribute to taking the next step on law reform for people of diverse sexuality and gender in WA.
By acting as a community and applying pressure to the Government, we can achieve change on these 3 important issues. The reforms of 2008, 2002 and all those before came about because of pressure from individual community members who took the time to call their politicians, write letters, sign a petition or attend a public event of support. We’ve achieved milestone reforms before on the road to equality, and we can do it again.
Your contribution to the campaign is valuable, and extremely important to achieving full equality for yourself, or your family or friends who suffer discrimination.
Put this page up on your wall or at work, and once a week do something from this list. By all contributing to keeping the pressure on, we can make sure that the Australian Government is motivated to make change in the areas of relationship recognition, anti discrimination legislation and gender identity recognition.
Despite popular belief, members of Parliament don’t get enough calls or emails about issues that are important to people. In May 2010 thousands of GetUP! Members called their local MP about climate change, with members of parliament getting more than 100 calls in a day – more calls than they usually get in a month! The Prime Minister had to directly respond to the Labor members on the issue.
Imagine if they get regular calls about this issue! 40% of the electorates in WA are marginal seats – meaning it would only take a small swing in the vote to unseat the sitting member. This means that in a federal election year political parties are particularly worried about what Western Australians think.
Local politicians pay a lot of attention what is published in community newspapers, because they reflect what the community is concerned about. By taking the time to write a short letter once every couple of weeks, you can make same-sex marriage, anti-discrimination legislation and gender identity recognition the key topics for our communities in the lead up to the election. We know this works – Gay and Lesbian Equality committee members have kept a regular letters debate going in the Perth Voice for a few months.
Never underestimate the power of talking to people about the issues that are important to you. Only by talking to each other do we challenge our beliefs, learn new things, and come to understand the experiences of others. People of diverse sexuality and gender feel isolated because nobody talks about the issues that affect them – you can make a difference to their isolation and to community discrimination just by talking.
GALE(WA) works behind the scenes, meeting with
ministers and party representatives to get legislation drafted, raised and
passed in Government. We work with the community to keep pressure on the
Government, and to support vital community initiatives that work to support
people of diverse sexuality and gender in the community. By becoming a member
of our network, you’ll receive action alerts at the most effective times that
you can take action, and we’ll keep you informed about what’s happening on the
road to full equality.
Membership is free, and can be registered online.
Get directly involved in the campaign! Our committee
members work to keep the campaign going, and to keep these issues on the agenda
of our governments. By contributing a couple of hours a fortnight, and bringing
your unique passion, ideas or skills, you ensure that the campaign remains
strong, creative and effective. We provide mentorship and training in lobbying,
meeting with politicians and event / campaign management to ensure you have the
support you need to drive us on the road to equality.
Find out more...
Equal Love Perth is a network of Perth community members who support equal marriage. They organise supportive rallies, festivals and events to show public support for same-sex marriage in Australia. By joining their network, you will receive notifications of public events where you can show your support publicly. Public demonstrations of support are important to engage new people and to get media attention, thereby keeping visible public pressure on the Government.
To find out more about Equal Love visit www.equallove.info
The WA Gender Project is a lobby, education and advocacy group that works defend and advocate for the rights of Transgender, Transsexual and Intersex people and their significant others. They work with the government, organisations, community groups and the broader community to educate and improve services for TTI people in WA.
To get involved in the WA Gender Project, download a membership form from www.wagenderproject.org
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