Far left not impressed with Rudd

While many in the gay and lesbian community are cheering the equality reforms introduced by the Rudd Government, some young people from the far left are still concerned that its some rights but not others approach, particularly in relation to same-sex marriage, is rooted in homophobia.

Activist youth group Resistance is holding a conference at Sydney’s University of Technology on 27-29 June and will hold a special forum on why progressive people, even those opposed to all marriage, should support same-sex marriage equality.

We’re not necessarily supportive of the institution of marriage as a whole, and the implications that has for women especially, but we support same-sex couples to have the right to marry, Lauren Carroll-Harris from Resistance told the Sydney Star Observer.

That will be covered by examining the origins of homophobia.

It was an issue that split the gay and lesbian community during the 2004 federal marriage amendments banning same-sex unions, with the Sydney Star Observer receiving many letters from both sides.

Carroll-Harris said the conference would include a number of educational workshops on issues even the current Labor Government would find politically awkward, as well as the ones it has embraced such as troop withdrawal and the apology to indigenous Australians.

It’s about exposing the weaknesses of the Rudd Government. It’s important to recognise that he’s from the hard right faction of the Labor Party and he’s been elected on the basis of being an economic conservative, she said.

It’s about bringing about an alternative to the left of Labor.

It’s not even one-sided workshops. We all go there to learn as much as we can about the issues and train our people to do the day-to-day activism stuff and that requires heaps of different skills, from writing articles to public speaking.

Resistance has increasingly targeted younger people, including high school students, into progressive activism through these conferences, Carroll-Harris said, because they were becoming more concerned by these issues.

We came out of the anti-Vietnam War movement 40 years ago. But it’s not enough to campaign against one war, there’s a lot of injustice in the world, she said.

The workshop for homophobia and the case of same-sex marriage will be held on Saturday 28 June, 2.30pm. Registration is available online at www.resistance.org.au.