Union to fight for gay marriage

Union to fight for gay marriage

The Australian Services Union (ASU) will push for marriage equality at ALP and union meetings this year after 73 percent of its members came out in support of same-sex marriage.

ASU NSW secretary Sally McManus told the Star Observer that all of the union’s delegates would back same-sex marriage at the ALP’s national conference in December where the party will revisit its policy.

“There will be other forums in the lead-up to the national convention. There will be state ALP conferences, there will be discussions at an ACTU level and other union forums,” McManus said.

“It won’t just be in that final decision-making. At all the lead-up meetings we’ll be advocating very strongly in support of same-sex marriage.”

McManus said it was important unions represented the views of their members and encouraged other unions to find out where members stood.

“They should listen to the views of their members and reflect those views and if there’s a question about that, the best way to do it is a direct democratic process by asking them to have a say in it,” she said.

“There are some big unions who have expressed a strong view on this matter such as the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association [SDA] and I’m not certain if that’s the view of the majority of shop assistants. It’s not my union but I’m not certain that most young people these days are that out of step with what all the polls are saying.”

The SDA is headed by Joe de Bruyn, a socially conservative unionist who Gough Whitlam dubbed “the Dutchman who doesn’t like dykes” and who has campaigned against marriage rights for same-sex couples in the media.

McManus said the ASU executive had been surprised by the strength of the support for same-sex marriage that had come from members, with 2100 participating in its survey.

“I knew the result would be a majority in favour of it but I was pleasantly surprised about just how strong that majority was,” she said.

Australian Marriage Equality national convenor Alex Greenwich welcomed the support and called for the SDA to canvass members in the same way.

“The ASU and their membership should be congratulated for recognising that the right to equality for same-sex couples is in line with the core beliefs of the union movement,” Greenwich said.

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13 responses to “Union to fight for gay marriage”

  1. Rob: Your comment regarding internalised homophobia and self loathing is not valid. Nowhere in my post have I said that I hate myself or being gay is wrong – totally the opposite.

    If marriage becomes legalised for gay people it will just morph into a common practise that will not be taken seriously.

    “I’m doing an Elizabeth Taylor” is what they’ll say.

  2. @Banks .. take your internalised homophiobia and self loathing elsewhere.

    Also, if you’re going to mention “countless surveys and studies” that support your position then it is probably a good idea to reference them. The only ones I know that claim the “homosexual lifestyle” is bad are those conducted by fundamentalist christian organisations.

    Alternatively, you could have a look at those credible studies and reviews conducted recently that show same-sex parents and couples are just as sane, sorted and settled as any heterosexual couple (and often make better parents).

    Here are two sources just for starters:
    “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Parented Families”, The Australian Psychological Society Ltd, 2007
    “Bibliography on Same-Sex Parents”, Australian Institute of Family Studies”, Feb 2010

  3. I’m gay and I don’t support gay marriage.

    To put it bluntly the MAJORITY of gay people are socially and morally screwed up.

    We fight amongst each other, we discriminate within our own community, we portray “youth” and “beauty” as a priority, we are drawn to hedonism and our relationships are always troublesome and short lived – I’m not going to crap on about the endless social studies, surveys and opinion polls that have been done in the last century to back my thoughts up.

    Now. Having said the above I think it would be disastrous on society to have gay people as role models and even more worse if we open the gates to allow marriage for gay people

    WE HAVE ENOUGH POOR PARENTING AND BROKEN MARRIAGES FROM STRAIGHT PEOPLE – WE DO NOT NEED ANYMORE.

    Please consider what is best for children and society before ranting on about gay marriage because we are making it out to be nothing but a ego fight for ourselves.

    If gay marriage gets legalised divorce rates will sky rocket to the heavens. Yes yes yes the stats for divorce these days are bad enough by straight people – do we really need more though? I mean lets really take a look at the general mentality of gay and lesbian people.

  4. Marriage should be equal! doesnt matter if ur gay, lesbian, or different ethnicity, we all have love towards the other so we should be able to b married not just str8 people! Let us get married! I am gay n wanna get marry one dya n have a future just like str8 people. i am still human as well!

  5. Richard Lutz always talks of incest. He is simply obssessed about wanting to marry his mother.

  6. Richard Lutz makes my skin crawl. You sir, are the reason that Universities were built, because the community could no longer stand your incorrect, unsubstantiated prattling. At University, everything you say must be backed up by factual research. Where is yours? I know where, on the planet of the Fundamentalist Bigotry..
    To liken the relationship of two consenting adults (whom are NOT related) to polygamy and incest is an insult of the highest order. How is it that a monogamous relationship is anything like polygamy? Mono/Poly, clearly different.

    Also, incest is most likely a heterosexual issue, stemming from back-woods rednecks such as yourself being inappropriately involved with their daughters. That is how “unhealthy bodies” from inbreeding occur. In same sex relationships, there is no intercourse and therefore cannot be plauged by incest. If a couple choses a donor from within their family, well that is not due to the fact of their being gay, but that they are mentally ill in some way.

    ‘Murderous interfamily jealousies’, it definately sounds like you’ve been watching too many movies. I happen to be undertaking a degree in Psychology and my many Criminal texts indicate that murderers are most commonly straight males whom are repressed and rejected in some way by women. Google “Why men become murderers” and I’m sure Google Scholar will show you SOMETHING on the subject.

    In relation to protecting children, I don’t see how having two loving parents is a danger to child welfare. What about single parent families where there is no mother or father? It is common, scientific knowledge that gay and particularly lesbian parents children are more well balanced, tollerant and intelligent than their heterosexual peers. This is because gay couples must plan for a child, it is an entirely concious action. Heterosexual couples can end up pregnant from 3 too many Vodka Cruisers at their Neighbours-Friends-Friends Tupperware party…Oh yes, planned parenthood, absolutely.

    In short, please get some information and do not merely regurgitate your fundamentalist rhetoric on a site that, given your personal views, you shouldn’t even be on?…Closet case, go and get some self love and stop trying to make yourself King of the Web…

  7. Visit Tin Can Bay in Darkest Queensland.

    The population there are mostly related to each other, and I cannot count the numbers of wifes I know who have been plugged by their husbands brother.

    I could tell you HARLOT O’SCARA and any other GEEZAASS JUNKIE, who insist on wearing Horse Blinkers, and view life through Stain Glass, that half the kids running around belong to the Milk Man and the Grocery Man, so to speak.

    The real reason this sex thing happens with us monkeys…Is that we are just animals, and the reality is…That’s what animals do in the real world, plug anything that moves.

  8. @ Richard Lutz

    Can you please validate your comments by advising us what planet you live on? coz it obviously isnt earth!

    you harp on about protecting children and society… do you have children? (if so i pity the narrow minded example of a father they have) and what have you done to protect society? except foster in your children and family the idea that the gay community are akin to murderers and polygamists (lets not even start with the inbreeders… as im sure somewhere along the line your genes got messed up)

    in all seriousness, im sure someone who can read and write CANNOT be as ill-educated as u appear to be above… it must be a joke on your part to lighten the mood… and bravo… never have i read anything more comic! kudos!

  9. @ Richard Lutz

    Own needs? I am straight and I know no openly gay people (and I’m not just a gay person saying this to further my own agenda lol) so therefore I have no ‘need’ to support gay marriage.

    But I do. It’s the right thing to do. I adore Australia, but I can’t keep doing that if it’s so unjust to minority groups. I support gay marriage because it is time to wipe out all the bullcrap.

    Gay marriage is by no means unethical; marriage is about legally binding loving people, not about procreation, though it CAN be for SOME people. If it was all about the children, as you say, we wouldn’t have people marrying beyond menopause or people would be forced to procreate if they desired to marry. That kind of sounds like some middle-eastern war-torn country.

    And, for your information, all this hullaballoo about incest is ill-founded. Not saying I agree at all, but an incestuous couple producing have only a slightly increased chance of giving birth to children with recessive genes that have become dominant, generally speaking. Incestuous breeding only becomes a problem over many generations, eg with purebreed dogs – it takes a lot of inbreeding to procduce those deformed unhealthy bodies you speak of. ‘Murderous interfamily jealousies’ – huh? No foundation in fact there, mate, sounds like you’ve been watching some crazy hollywood.

    And, yes, there is such a thing as single parenting. It’s pretty successful.

    And gay marriage would harm children and society? Um, I don’t think so. You should provide proof for your assertations or people won’t take you seriously. Which they shouldn’t.

  10. Turns out the ASU has around 120,000 members, only 2,100 of whom bothered to reply to the survey as most likely thought was a joke.

    I’m sorry if James Ntoumenopoulos has suffered discrimination, but if he genuinely believes marriage is a private matter between consenting adults does he support incestuous marriages and group marriages like polygamy?

    Unfortunately some people cannot deal with the gay marriage issue rationally because they are obsessed with their own needs and past grievances, otherwise they would realize gay marriage is unethical and illiberal as it would harm children and society.

    Opposing gay, incestuous and polygamous marriages is not about hating people who have homosexual, incestuous or polygamous relationships, it’s about protecting children and society. Is that so hard to understand? Or don’t they care about children or society?

    Marriages that validate family formats that naturally deprive children of their right to a mother and a father, a healthy body due to inbreeding, or create murderous interfamily jealousies, would be a hideous betrayal of the children we are duty bound to protect.

  11. I get what all the fuss is about as a gay man with the same gay partner for 18 years in that fear and bigotry will always try this on with usie keep us down keep us different keep us struggling to establish ouir visibilty in the community at large and let all realise how the same we are…Though we both do not want the idea of marriage the choice is still not there …old testament references do not underpin our society in actual fact alot of todays problems go back and source all their hatred and fear from this text….as long as we do not have a choice we are alltreated less than equal to our straight friends I feel it is time to stand and take what has been taken from us….and we don’t need anyones approval to have what is everyone elses birth right the right to marry their partner of choice ….and heaven forbid the right to divorce them later too…welcome to the straight world for all its imperfections it is still wonderful to know gays can marry and one day it will be so….so healthy for us all that we embrace difference and when we are old and in homes the last area of denial of rights that too will be our last battle to have respect in our old age for our rights and that will only be won because of the respect all other minorities have won for themselves before us… all those who lack power in this world are connected and the reasons for that loss of power are the same ….people do this because we let them… no more let them when it comes to marriage hoorah James

  12. i dont think that same sex marriages should be allowed as its a sacred thing for normal couple what is it teaching the next gen that is already mixed up enough we are already see the downside to the way our kids are treating people today with out respect