Donations sought for NZ wedding as one half of elderly lesbian couple faces terminal illness
Image: Sandra Yates and Lee Bransden. (Photo: Heath Holden; Supplied)
A CROWDFUNDING campaign has been launched to help an elderly Tasmanian lesbian couple travel to New Zealand to marry before it’s sadly too late.
Over the weekend, news emerged of Lee Bransden and Sandra Yates, an elderly Davenport couple who want legal recognition for their relationship but need it to happen as soon as possible as Lee is terminally ill with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and doctors have given weeks to live.
In response, Australian Marriage Equality (AME) today launched a crowdfunding campaign to help the couple, both pensioners, to fulfill their dream.
The couple’s final wish together is to be legally married, which Sandra said would give Lee something to look forward to and live for.
“It’s [Lee’s] dying wish. She is dying to be married,” she told Fairfax Media.
Last week, the marriage equality debate experienced a resurgence after Deputy Opposition Leader Tanya Plibersek announced she would be pushing Labor too adopt a binding vote in favour of it at the party’s upcoming national conference.
While her announcement – which was a change since 2014, when she told the Star Observer she did not support a binding vote — was with praise from marriage equality campaigners and from fellow Labor MPs and supporters, there were many who also criticised her — including Labor leader Bill Shorten, who wanted the platform to remain as a conscience vote.
The Liberal Party’s first openly-gay federal parliamentarian Senator Dean Smith was also among the chorus of critics, while Shadow Treasurer and western Sydney MP Chris Bowen has changed his personal stance and publicly declared his support for same-sex marriage.
Launching Lee and Sandra’s fundraising campaign today, AME national director Rodney Croome, said: “[Their] case is a reminder that marriage equality is about real people with real needs, not politics or parties.”
“Their dire situation is also a reminder that marriage equality is an urgent reform that needs to be resolved now, not some distant or trivial issue that politicians can put to one side,” he added.
The fundraiser aims to raise $6500 to pay for flights, accommodation and the wedding ceremony. At the time of print, $5650 had been raised with seven days remaining in the campaign.
The couple, who met 30 years ago and both worked as registered nurses, went on pensions after a bankrupt builder they employed ate into their life savings. They also recently sold their camper van to pre-pay Lee’s funeral.
To donate to Lee Bransden and Sandra Yates’ crowdfunding campaign for their NZ wedding, visit www.gofundme.com/t5dq26pw
Australia is a fucked up country, when so many reality shows on television on straight marriage alone that obviously cater to bogans and bigots after dinner with shows called “The Bachelor”, “the Bachelorette”, “Divorce Court”, “Judge Judy”, “Strangers Marrying”, etc…
And then both the Liberal and Labor Parties – with massive underground money support from third parties – such as the ACL (Australian Christian Lobby) and the SDA (Shop Distribution And Allied Union) get on their high horse and yell out “gays ruin marriage”, “gays ruin sex”, “gays threaten the social cohesion in the military”, “gay marriages cause earthquakes, tornadoes and global warming”, “gays cause paedophilia and child sexual abuse goes up by 500%”, “gay marriage leads to incest and polygamy”, “gay marriage leads to war”, etc.., etc., etc.! Conservatives need Ritalin, Prozac, Vellum and not forgetting a good bullet through there thick head!
Then why as Australian societies as voters and/or taxpaying citizens continue to vote in STUPID, SILLY and OUTADED expensive lawmakers – those continue and continue to ban marriage equality under the archaic bigoted Marriage Act 1961!?
All because Australia has a very corrupt voting system called the “preferential vote”, meaning someone with just 1% of the vote can get in with preferences (Fred Nile for example in the upper house of NSW). Australia needs to adopt the “first past the post” voting system model right now (the one the UK has)!
The government spent thousands giving one of the drug smugglers in Bali the right to marry. People were flown in, hotels were paid for. The LNP, and Labor, are treating people who are same-sex attracted as worthy of less help then convicted criminals when they face death.
As per usual, my tax dollars courtesy of the Australian Government of both sides of the isle is funding corruption on a grand scale in Papua New Guinea, Bali, Indonesia, Iraq and Kenya. These countries all very-high on the corruption list and are very dangerous countries to be in, because they are funding terrorist organisations that want to blow the very fuck out of us under Islamic State – through both oil and hale products.
The Australian Government spends billions of dollars in overseas countries on so called aid – yet both the Pacific Highway and the Newell Highway IN OUR OWN COUNTRY are crying out for funding! Our schools and hospitals are crying our for funding IN OUR OWN COUNTRY! HIV organisations IN OUR OWN COUNTRY are crying out for funding!
I want to pass a law requiring mandatory sterilisation of all bigoted anti-gay lawmakers and conservatives! Such as Tony Abbott, Cory Benardi and Fred Nile!
Stage 1
My Bill Introduced 5/5/15
To Judiciary Committee 5/5/15
Marriage Act 1961 Repeal Bill 2015
(A) The law becomes effective the day after Assent.
(B) Once implemented, this law is called the Marriage Act 1961 Repeal Act 2015.
(C) The objective of this proposed law is to repeal the whole Marriage Act 1961.
Schedule 1-
WHOLE REPEAL
(1) Marriage Act 1961.
Marriage Act 1961 Repeal Bill 2015
So let me get this straight:
“A drunk straight couple who have been together for just 1 second have more of a right to get married, then a non-drunk gay couple who have been together for more than 60 years!”
Lets maybe abolish and repeal the Marriage Act 1961 then!
When Bill Shorten & others say that they support marriage equality but that ALP MPs & Senators should be free to vote against it, what they are really saying is that the personal opinions of their colleagues are more important than the actual rights of couples of Sandra & Lee. #ItsTimeToBind for the ALP – so that each and every Labor parliamentarian will vote to end the need for couples like this to leave their own country just to get married.
When Bill Shorten & others say that they support marriage equality but that ALP MPs & Senators should be free to vote against it, what they are really saying is that the personal opinions of their colleagues are more important than the actual rights of couples of Sandra & Lee. #ItsTimeToBind for the ALP – so that each and every Labor parliamentarian will vote to end the need for couples to leave their own country just to get married.
Tony Abbott and his Liberal lawmakers are complete cunts! This dilly-dallying and ongoing time-wasting stupid debate on marriage is costing love lives and time for this loverly couple and plenty of other loverly gay couples!
TIME FOR MARRIAGE EQUALITY NOW!