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A prominent Indigenous lawyer and 2011 NSW Australian of the Year has compared the ban on same-sex marriage to past policies by state governments that required Aboriginal people to seek government approval before they could marry and called on the Government to act on the issue.

Speaking on behalf of the Metropolitan Aboriginal Land Council at Saturday’s Sydney marriage equality rally, Larissa Behrendt told the crowd of close to 1000 people that Australia’s ban on same-sex marriage was a national and international shame.

“I think it’s beholden to anyone who lives on Aboriginal land now to do so in a spirit of tolerance and acceptance and it seems to me that the failure to achieve marriage equality mocks those principles,” Behrendt said.

“It was … only decades ago that Aboriginal people themselves were told who they could and couldn’t marry and we look back on that now and say that was one of the worst pieces of discrimination that we suffered because it meant manipulation of the most private and intimate parts of our lives.”

Behrendt was referring to policies in the 19th and 20th centuries whereby Indigenous Australians could not marry without the approval of their state’s Protector of Aborigines.

“The fact that there are Australians living on this land today who still suffer from that discrimination is something that the whole country needs to be entirely ashamed of … It’s an embarrassment to those of us who live here and its an embarrassment to us internationally,” she said.

Behrendt called on Australia’s political leadership to follow in the footsteps of US president Barack Obama and evolve their position on same-sex marriage.

“A very prominent black man in the United States this week said that his thinking had evolved and he now agreed that marriage equality was right,” she said.

“Now this black woman asks that the leaders of this country evolve to the same point and say that it’s time now to extend this equality to everybody who wants to marry the person they love.”

The Sydney rally was one of several held around the country over the weekend. Around 4000 people rallied in Melbourne and close to 7000 Australia-wide.

The Kaleidoscope Trust and Pride London have announced that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been awarded the first World LGBT Award.

The joint award from the two organisations recognises the international attention Clinton has brought to LGBT rights by her public support and advocacy.

The US government strategy to protect the rights of gay and lesbian people around the world and combat the criminalisation of homosexuality was set out in a major speech by Clinton at the United Nations last December.

The Kaleidoscope Trust was among the international human rights organisations invited to meet Clinton.

“Secretary Clinton not only believes that gay rights are human rights, but has acted to ensure that others begin to recognise these rights,” the Kaleidoscope Trust’s Harjeet Johal said.

The award will be given to Clinton at a gala award ceremony during World Pride which is being held in London this year.

What makes you ‘you’? In Garry Stewart’s Be Your Self, the athletic dancers of the Australian Dance Theatre are transformed into powerful creative entities projecting startling physical images to a wildly unpredictable electronic score. It’s at the Sydney Theatre, May 31 – June 3.

INFO: www.adt.org.au

An Australian/German co-production, queer film Nancy Pansy Hairy Mary tells the story of two crazed gay serial killers on a hunt to kill as many homophobes as they can. When the killers’ lives begin to unravel, and innocent people are killed, they are forced to decide if their love for each other is stronger then their hatred of others. The film is in pre-production, with the filmmakers launching a Pozible campaign to raise much-needed funds to get it off the ground.

INFO: www.nancypansyhairymary.com

The 2012 Cairns Queer Film Festival starts this Friday with a line-up selected by community members.

The weekend of screenings will open with festival circuit favourites Cloudburst and Weekend together with an opening night party to celebrate queer film.

The festival will also feature Silent, a documentary chronicling how the generation that fought the hardest to come out is now going back into the closet to survive in nursing homes.

With gay parenting still a hot topic in Queensland, the festival will show Fatherhood Dreams, which highlights the lives of four gay parents.

Australian documentary Holding Hands, about a homophobic attack, is also on the program.

The Cairns Queer Film Festival runs May 18 – 19 at the Jute Theatre, Cairns. It is now in its sixth year, having started out as the Tropical Alternatives Film Festival.

The festival will travel to Brisbane, Townsville and the Sunshine Coast for screenings later in the year.

INFO: www.qahc.org.au/films

American television network NBC has picked up a new series by Glee producer Ryan Murphy called The New Normal.

It stars Andrew Rannells and The Hangover‘s Justin Bartha and as a gay couple who form a family with a surrogate. Tony winner Ellen Barkin and NeNe Leakes costar.

NBC is believed to be considering an August 2012 release.

Check out a clip for the show below. Will you be watching?

South African director Oliver Hermanus’ feature Beauty is one of the more disturbing picks of the Sydney Film Festival. The fascinating study of the power of desire focuses on Francois, a middle-aged, deeply closeted man who becomes obsessed with the adult son of longtime friends. Thanks to SFF, we have two double passes to the Sunday, June 10, 8.30pm screening of the film at Event Cinemas on George St. For your chance to win one, enter your details below.

He’s tirelessly advocated for the rights of all Australian same-sex couples to marry, but this weekend Australian Marriage Equality spokesperson Alex Greenwich was the one walking down the aisle with long-term partner Victor Hoeld.

Surrounded by 50 close friends and family, the couple married in Buenos Aires, Argentina on Saturday. The pair are the first foreign couple to marry in the country.

Greenwich said his marriage to Hoeld was the happiest day of his life.

“I will return to Australia more energised than ever before to achieve marriage equality,” he said.

“As special as our wedding was, it is shame that we had to travel to a foreign country that affords us more rights than the country we live in and love.”

Argentina’s president Cristina Kirchner is now expected write to Australian prime minister Julia Gillard to ask her to support same-sex marriage.

Photo: From left to right, Claudia Hoeld, Victor Hoeld, Carolyn Greenwich and Alex Greenwich.

Our first proper look at season five of Alan Ball’s True Blood has arrived.

The trailer shows former Law & Order: SVU star Christopher Meloni fully fanged-up in his role as the vampire authority.

Ball has has hinted that the new season of the HBO smash series will look at the origins of at least one of the vampires in the show as well as larger mythology.

True Blood season five will air on Foxtel’s Showcase channel from June 17.

Check out the trailer below:

Marriage equality rallies drew thousands of protesters around Australia on the weekend.

An estimated 6,600 people, including around 4,000 in Melbourne, took to the streets on Saturday, May 12 to call on federal Parliament to legalise same-sex marriage.

Over 1,000 people gathered in Sydney, while an estimated 600-700 people turned up to a rally in Brisbane.

Similar events were also held in Canberra and Perth, however, a protest in Hobart was called off due to bad weather.

At the largest rally in Melbourne, comedian Magda Szubanski told the crowd Australia had an international responsibility to show tolerance by allowing same-sex marriage.

“There are people who live in parts of the globe where simply being gay will mean they face the death penalty,” Szubanski said.

“If this country can’t practice tolerance how can we expect any other country to be capable of tolerance?”

Victorian Equal Love convenor Ali Hogg said she was pleased with the turnout.

“We have been organising these rallies for eight years and it’s great to see that people are still as passionate as ever,” Hogg said.

“It has become an embarrassment that our prime minister, who is supposed to be the leader of the more progressive party, still holds such a discriminatory position against marriage equality.

“It sends a message to LGBTI people that they are worth less and that’s not on.”

At the Adelaide rally Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said Australians were telling political leaders change is needed.

“Ordinary Australians are giving the Labor and Coalition leaders a strong but positive message that it’s time they removed discrimination from the Marriage Act,” Hanson-Young said.

Photo: Benn Dorrington