GLRL welcomes new committee
The NSW GLRL held its annual general meeting on Wednesday, November 28 and elected a new Committee of Management.
Eight incumbent committee members were re-elected, and we are joined by five new faces. Thank you to outgoing members James Sin (treasurer), Hayley Williams and Leah Weber.
The new committee is a highly experienced and diverse group, and includes experienced policy advisors within government and NGOs, a human rights lawyer and journalists.
Our staff members remain the same – Jed Horner (policy and project officer), and Steven Kennedy (administrative officer).
I am honoured to have been re-elected as male-convenor, and look forward to working alongside female convenor Lainie Arnold, who was also re-elected for a second term.
The year 2012 has been an extremely busy one for the GLRL. Our annual report is available here.
We continue to campaign for comprehensive and inclusive anti-discrimination protection for the LGBTI community.
Within the last fortnight, the federal government released the long-awaited exposure draft of its new anti-discrimination laws, which will for the first time include sexual orientation and gender identity as protected attributes.
There is still much work to do, especially around the area of exemptions for religious organisations, but the new laws, once passed, will represent a hard-fought milestone for LGBTI rights in this country.
We have continued to push for marriage equality at both state and federal levels.
We lobbied successfully in May 2012 for a motion in support of marriage equality in the NSW Legislative Council.
On Sunday, November 25, the GLRL co-hosted a public forum on the future of marriage equality in Australia. We were joined by some of our key allies parliamentary in state Parliament, and look forward to working with the cross-party working group on the newly-announced state marriage equality bill.
We have also campaigned for the repeal of the notorious “gay panic” defence, appearing before a Legislative Council Select Committee into the partial defence of provocation.
We have worked on domestic violence issues, alongside our partners at ACON’s Anti-Violence Project, and the Inner City Legal Centre, working to ensure inclusive terminology and appropriate service delivery for our community.
We have advocated in the area of birth certificates and transfer of parentage schemes through the NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages.
We have campaigned on issues surrounding ageing, through the LGBTI Health Alliance’s consultation on the draft ageing strategy.
We have also provided input into Australia’s response to the World Health Organisation report on the social determinants of health, through a federal Senate Community Affairs Committee inquiry.
I am extremely proud to work alongside such a committed team. With just half a full-time equivalent staff member, it is only thanks to their dedication that we can cover this range of issues.
Next year is our 25th anniversary, and we look forward to celebrating it – and continued success in our lobbying efforts – with you.
