Lobby honours Human Rights Commisioner

Human Rights Commissioner Graeme Innes has been honoured for his push for a better deal for gay and lesbian people during the Howard government years.

The Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby’s supporter of the year award went to Innes not only for his Same-Sex: Same Entitlements report, but also for his prior efforts to get gay and lesbian discrimination on the agenda, co-convenor Emily Gray said.

Zoe Brilliante was honoured as volunteer of the year, and long-standing former committee members Carole Ruthchild and David Buchanan added to the Lobby hall of fame.

The awards were announced during the Lobby’s Annual General Meeting last week.
Emily Gray was re-elected co-convenor. Her colleague during 2007/08, Peter Johnson, stood down as co-convenor, but will continue contributing to the Lobby as a committee member.

The fight for equality was a rewarding one, he said, adding there was still much to do after the current reforms, including federal relationship recognition and prevention of homophobic violence.
I have no doubt eventually gay and lesbian people will have full legislative recognition of their relationships and safety.

The male co-convenor role will remain vacant until a replacement is found.

The organisation’s only current staff member, Ghassan Kassisieh, announced he is leaving at the end of this year.

Kassisieh had been with the organisation for a number of years, first as a volunteer and later as staff. He frequently represented the Lobby at parliamentary committee hearings.

The Lobby has been turned around by the current committee, he told the meeting, adding that the organisation’s work had often led to additional protections in the federal and state equality reforms that governments hadn’t originally considered.

Ben Keats, Lainie Arnold, Jonathan Dobinson, Gerard Kohn, Louise Petschler and Matthew Strassburg were re-elected to the Lobby committee. Justin Koonin, Laurie Berg, Shannon Burke and Sally Virgo will join the committee.