Rights lobby seeks urgent funding

The NSW Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby is embarking on a major fundraising drive, and is hoping to recruit recurring donors after revealing it will run out of funds within 12 months. The lobby said that without further sources of funding it would not be able to continue paying staff beyond that period. To deal with the funding issue, the GLRL is asking members of the community to become ‘Silver Supporters’ of the GLRL and pay $25 a month in recurring donations.

Co-convenor Lainie Arnold said the organisation was seeking to stabilise its funding base as it received no financial support other than random donations.

“The GLRL receives no ongoing funding from government or private institutions,” Arnold told the Star Observer.

“The GLRL has always been chiefly funded by grants, however these are not recurrent, and are generally project based, which can skew and limit the work that we are able to do.

“To remain independent we need to generate a secure form of income that is not linked to government grants.”

The GLRL is hoping that 250 people will become Silver Supporters to continue their core work of lobbying politicians for equality for the gay and lesbian community under the NSW legal system, keeping the community up to date on their rights, and the enforcement of those rights.

The GLRL has pointed to its success over the past 25 years, including adoption and surrogacy reform (2010), recognition of parental status for co-mothers in NSW (2008), federal reform granting de facto equality for same-sex couples (2008), equal age of consent (2003), next of kin and relationship rights in NSW (1999) and the introduction of anti-vilification legislation (1993).

However it said there are still battles to be fought, including the consolidation of federal anti-discrimination legislation, providing education forums to the community on enforcing our rights under existing NSW anti-discrimination legislation, lobbying for marriage equality, addressing homophobic bullying in schools, domestic violence and the ending of the “gay panic” defence.

INFO: Find out about coming a Silver Supporter here.