Grayndler ‘not as gay’

The pink vote in Grayndler may not play much of a role in the inner-west seat as during the fiery marriage equality debate of the last election.
Polls suggest the sitting MP and Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese will be returned comfortably.
“The seat is a bit different now, having lost Annandale and picked up more of Ashfield and areas that don’t have as high a gay and lesbian population as they used to,” Albanese said.
He brings a party-endorsed commitment to full equality for the gay and lesbian community, as do the Greens, but neither of Albanese’s two main opponents flagged same-sex equality as a key issue for the seat.
The Liberal candidate for the seat, Daniel Caffery, a cousin to Liberal Senator Bill Heffernan, has spoken of strong economic management.
The Greens candidate, Marrickville Councillor Saeed Khan has campaigned for ethnic affairs and against airport expansion.
Khan is the only Greens candidate in the pink electorates who won’t be attending the party’s same-sex policy forum next week.
In 2004 the Greens ran Philip Myers, an advocate of same-sex equality, including marriage, who picked up 21 percent of the vote.
At the time, Albanese was facing a backlash against Labor’s decision to back the Government’s Bill banning same-sex marriage, and placed an ad in SSO explaining the party’s support for financial equality.
“I haven’t won every debate in the party, but I’ve been campaigning on equality issues for a long time,” Albanese said.
“The truth is reforms are made by governments. The history of gay and lesbian law reform in Australia, all have been made by Labor governments, not by conservatives or independents.”
Caffery and Khan were unavailable for comment by press time.
GREENS GENDER FORUM
Senator Kerry Nettle, Sydney candidate Jenny Leong, and Wentworth candidate Susan Jarnason will speak at a forum on Greens policy and same-sex and gender issues on Wednesday 10 October, 6pm at Colombian Hotel. The meeting is open to the public.