Young Labor backs gay marriage

The next generation of Labor’s insiders has joined a growing movement of party members breaking ranks against the ban on same-sex marriage.

The NSW Young Labor conference on Saturday resol-ved to endorse marriage equality, joining the ACT Stanhope Government, Victorian cabinet minister Bronwyn Pike, a number of Labor-affiliated unions such as the NSW Fire Brigade Employees Union and the ACT branch of the ACTU.

When it comes to social justice issues, young people are ahead of the game, Rainbow Labor co-convenor and conference delegate Michael Vaughan told Sydney Star Observer.

They know this kind of discrimination belongs to a previous time.

He said the recommendation was considered uncontroversial enough to pass without additional debate.

This doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll be able to lead the charge and win it in other areas of the party, but it recognises that young people have a different take to the rest of the party, Vaughan said.

Even just changing the perception that this is uncontested ground in the ALP is fantastic.

The state conference, the first in three years, also supported same-sex adoption and called for comprehensive mandatory anti-homophobia training for teachers in NSW.

The federal Australian Young Labor (AYL) and Rainbow Labor groups, in separate conferences earlier this year, called for civil unions in all state and territory jurisdictions.

[Civil unions] could very well be necessary steps towards achieving that final goal of full equality, but that needs to be in the context that all forms of relationship recognition should be equally available, Vaughan said.

I’m really proud that Young Labor has had the guts to speak out for young people and the gay and lesbian community.

Federal AYL president Matt Walton said a gay delegate from South Australia had attempted to muster support for the current same-sex marriage ban, but that failed on the conference floor.

He was a bit of a lone voice against gay marriage. But while not everyone is in support of gay marriage, everyone is in support of registered relationships, Walton told SSO.