Vigil held outside anti-equality meeting
Supporters of marriage equality attended a peaceful vigil in Launceston last week to coincide with an anti-equality meeting convened by the Tasmanian Branch of the Australian Christian Lobby.
The Tasmanian University Union (TUU) in partnership with the Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Rights Group (TGLRL) invited people to the vigil outside the Raymond Farrell Lecture Theatre at the University of Tasmania where the meeting against marriage equality was being held.
TUU president Saleh Bintalib said the vigil showed the human face of marriage equality by featuring photos of same-sex couples who wish to marry.
“It is important that this legislated discrimination comes to an end, particularly when a majority of Australians support reform. Pictures of same-sex couples who wish to wed [were] shown, so that those attending can see who they are discriminating against,” Bintalib said.
TGLRL spokesman Rodney Croome said marriage equality is about real people.
“This is not about abstract ideas or politics, it’s about real couples and their families who are disadvantaged by our discriminatory marriage laws and who deserve the same legal recognition as everyone else,” Croome said.
The TUU and TGLRG emphasised the importance of those attending the vigil understanding that it was a peaceful and dignified gathering.
It is unfortunate the Australian Christian Lobby is running a hate campaign against people who are Same-Sex attracted. They say for example, Marriage is under God’s law, and it is for the purpose of having children. We are then told homosexuals are “Destroying Marriage”, and people need to attack them and save marriage. Well they certainly do not target the million Australians who had a Civil Marriage with no Church. They single out the “homosexuals” and say they are “destroying fundamental Institutions in Society.
This is no different to the campaign by the Wendy Francis who said Same-Sex Marriage is child abuse. She sought to remove posters of two guys embracing. She did not target supermarkets where heterosexual couples are kissing on the DVD section, or they are embracing on the covers of condoms. No, her followers sent letters saying the homosexual lobby is involved in the sexualisation of children. We were painted as deviants, as child sex offenders. The worst of the worst.
So I cannot find evidence that the Australian Christian Lobby is against Same-Sex Marriage. But what I can say for certain is they are tipping a bucket of hate on people who are Same-Sex attracted. They are painting them as sexual deviants who are trying to destroy Australia. Remember ANZAC tweets? Same-Sex couples we were told is not what ANZACS fought for. A lie was implied that none of us ever fought or served in the army. That we could not be ANZACS, only cowards.
It is time we looked at the facts about the Christian Lobby, and looked carefully at the vilification, the hate, and the incitement to kill fellow Australians that is really being crafted through “Campaigns” to “Save Australia”.