Liberal call for gay members
The Liberal Party in Victoria is relaunching its gay and lesbian group Montalto in a bid to attract new members to the party.
The branch will operate within the Prahran electorate and, under normal party rules, will be able to move policy motions and propose policy positions.
Prahran MP Clem Newton-Brown will relaunch the group on August 11 in South Yarra.
He said moves from grassroots members to revive it had been in the pipeline for some time.
“The Liberal Party is made up of a diverse group of individuals and has always welcomed gay and lesbian members,” Newton-Brown told the Star Observer.
“This area is known for its large gay community, which is why the Prahran Liberals are holding this event.
“The Liberal Party encourages diverse views and backgrounds, and values the contribution GLBTI people make to our local community.”
The branch has been largely inactive during its lifetime, instead operating as a social networking group for gay and lesbian Liberal members.
A group spokesman said it will be up to members to decide what they want to do in terms of actively participating in Liberal policy on gay and lesbian issues.
Federal Higgins MP Kelly O’Dwyer and Institute of Public Affairs director Tim Wilson will attend the launch.
Those interested are encouraged to contact Newton-Brown’s office for event location details.
I think a failed candidate wants to run for politics again after their unsuccessful attempts before?
The support base is to be made in south yarra and surrounds FOR THE PINK VOTE here we go again people……..
Oliver I live in Gippsland far far away from Sydney. One bar was it? I would not base a statement about gay people not being tolerant on that, niether would Gary Burns, a Catholic who is a good bloke and gay. I would say it sounds like you had a bad experience at a gay bar, and your treatment sounds bad to me. I do not know the bar and have never been to bars in Sydney.
When I worked at the Catholic Organization ACSO I never had a problem about my sexuality, but I do know in other jobs people who have had problems and got the sack.
Rockhampton sounds like a nice place. I take it you live in the country also?
I have never been denied entry into a straight bar. Ive lived in towns like Mackay, Rockhampton and Charters Towers and never experienced discrimination. Come to Sydney and Im asked to leave a “Gay” bar. Have you asked yourself Dave, why youve been denied entry to straight bars or is that just you trying for a sympathy vote?
I have known people who have been sacked for living in a de-factor relationship working for a Catholic Organization who are straight. I have known people who have been sacked for being gay by the Salvation Army. I have worked in the community welfare sector and I have seen why there was a need to implement the protections.
If it is any help some thick heads I have been denied entry to straight bars, but does that make it right? It is an interesting pathology of those against the gay community, who say they are gay, and advocate against gay rights.
so there is a gay mafia…? interesting…….. who are in it for themselves?
who would have known Oliver!
Dave, I have not been out of work since aged 17, (now 41). I have never had to follow a religious cult at work, nor have I ever been sacked for being Gay, though I have worked amongst those who make a big deal about their “Gay Rights” and resigned on their own accord “presuming” that theyve been discriminated against! I also do volunteer work for a Catholic organisation and they know Im Gay, and yes Im still there volunteering! As a catholic Ive never been refused communion, (though communion is optional, you can remain seated). Somebody mentioned Confessional? um, in 2011 even that is “optional” or rather extinct now. That being said, I do recall a few years ago going to a gay venue with a friend of mine and being asked to leave by the “friendly” security, “unless we ordered another drink” we have to leave. Backed up of course by the bar staff and manager. That is the tolerant and accepting Gay community that cares for its own.
If Tony Abbott supports same sex marriage and signs an action plan to bring it in during his first term, I will vote for him at the next election. He has to say it on live television, create policy in Parliament before the 2012 election, and garner the numbers for the bill. As Michael Kirby’s long term friend he has a handy source of information about the issues and how simple it will be to enact such a policy. How about it Tony and the gay Liberals?
“Gay of convenience” maybe is a better term for political purposes if you want to argue with identity politics.
The suicide rate is high amongst gay youth that is embarrassing for ALL Australians.
well done to the libs even though i don’t like their politics.
hope it’s sincere peeps!
Clem-Newton Brown could not walk three metres across the floor of parliament, to save thousands of people who rely on the protections in the equal opportunity act, when he voted to strip GLBTI rights away at thousands of government funded jobs. You work hard, stay late, and be sacked, you can have all the qualifications and not get the job.
It is economic vandalism to Victoria, for this bloke to require people , to follow a particular religious belief, for jobs in Disability Services, Youth Services, Aged Care Services, and more. I am not convinced people should be sacked because of their sexuality. I am not convinced that makes Victoria a better place excluding people from access to billions of dollars.
Saying I was just following the orders of Robert Clarke is simply not good enough.
In 1995, the current Liberal Party Attorney-General Robert Clarke said of homosexuality to parliament, “I believe homosexual practices form a destructive way of life, destructive to the individual and destructive also to other individuals who are brought into that way of life. I suppose it is most readily demonstrable at a physical level; it is a physical fact that the human body is not designed for many homosexual practices and it is clear that physical problems follow from those practices.” Mr Clark went on to quote a student medical text stating that homosexual male pedophiles commonly reported molesting hundreds of victims, while heterosexual pedophiles “molest only a few”. (Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/libs-take-dim-view-of-homosexuals/2005/11/26/1132966006762.html ).
What other rights does Clem-Newton Brown intend to take from us? The right to work freely, and the right not to have to follow a religious belief, is a fundamental right that has been stripped from many in our community. From the people who look after you when you cannot look after yourself, from those who work in soup kitchens, from those who work countless extra hours for free, because they care-these good people did not deserve the sack.
I agree Neil, Im a liberal voter and a Catholic and sick of how people dictate to me who I should vote for.
Montalto? Sounds like Montanto, as in a fencing term for an upward thrust.
Upward, indeed.
Tony – What makes you think a gay liberal supporter is a “Self hating gay fool”
I am a Lib supporter and I can assure you I do not hate myself.
How about you show some of that acceptance you and the rest of the gay community claim to crave so much.
Attitudes like yours are the reason I want nothing to do with the gay community. You are no better than the people you think are out to get you.
We at LGBTory, the UK’s Conservative LGBT group, wish the Liberal Party of Australia well in getting their LGBT group up and running again. It is vital that all mainstream political Parties across the world and the political spectrum have active LGBT groups to take forward the LGBT agenda from within.
I wonder if Tony Abbott is threatened by them?(as per previous statements) Gay Liberals – the mind boggles
What kind of self-hating gay fool would join the “Liberals”? Madness.