Stars stand up for equality

A raft of new celebrities have put their support for marriage equality on the record as part of a new campaign partnership between Marie Claire magazine, Channel 7’s Sunrise morning show, progressive advocacy group GetUp! and Australian Marriage Equality (AME).

The I Do campaign is designed to encourage ordinary Australians to sign a petition telling federal parliamentarians to act on the issue.

“Not allowing same-sex couples to marry denies them and their families legal equality and perpetuates discrimination and prejudice,” the petition reads.

“The overwhelming majority of Australians support full marriage equality and it is the right thing to do. Marriage matters — amend the Commonwealth Marriage Act so that same-sex partners can be wed.”

A special video for the campaign stars prominent Australians including Rachel Griffiths, Akira Isagawa, Matthew Mitcham, Jennifer Hawkins, Alex Perry, Charlotte Dawson, David Pocock, Stavros Yiannoukas, Megan Gale, Magda Szubanski, Dr Chris Brown, Ruby Rose, Kylie Gillies, Marie Claire editor Jackie Frank, and outgoing Greens leader Senator Bob Brown and his partner Paul Thomas.

The groups will hold events in Sydney’s Martin Place and Melbourne’s Bourke St Mall this Thursday, June 7, 6-9am where they will give out free T-shirts like those used in the video. Actress Rachel Taylor will make a special guest appearance at the Sydney event.

Sunrise will include special coverage of the events in its Thursday morning broadcast and Marie Claire has dedicated the cover of its June issue to the issue of marriage equality, which features Taylor wearing a T-shirt in support of the issue.

AME national convenor Alex Greenwich said he was grateful to have the stars involved in the campaign.

“We’re over the moon that so many Australian celebrities are not only endorsing marriage equality but actively campaigning for it,” Greenwich said.

“Like the majority of Australians who support this reform, Australian actors, singers, TV hosts and models are saying they want to live in a country where everyone is treated equally.”

Other high-profile Australian supporters include Hugh Jackman, Olivia Newton-John, Jimmy Barnes, Guy Pearce, and Stephan Elliott.

INFO: www.ido.org.au