Why we need to rally

Why we need to rally

People often ask me what the benefits of rallying for marriage equality are. How is rallying going to convince our leaders to introduce and pass a bill?

I was once rather stunned when asked these questions. I naturally assumed that people (generally speaking) understood the importance of grassroots campaigning. After all, aren’t people aware of the black and women rights movements and how grassroots campaigning was vital in achieving legislative reform?

After a discussion with a friend around these questions, I thought more deeply about the strategic benefits of rallying when campaigning for legislative reform.

The best way for me to answer this question is to respond with the benefits I’ve witnessed both as an activist in Sydney and in my home town of Lismore in northern New South Wales.

The first marriage equality rally I organised in Lismore was the first time I came out to my community, many friends, and extended family. The empowerment I felt was extraordinary. For the first time, I and those who attended the rally felt we had an influential voice and that we could change the homophobic culture we were immersed in.

Five years and many rallies later, the socio-sexual culture of Lismore had changed dramatically. The day before the first rally, I heard a man in a café say to his mate, “Did you hear? The cocksuckers are having a protest. WTF?”

Now when I visit, it is normal to see same-sex couples holding hands in the street.

Empowering our community and bringing media attention and visibility to the issue are powerful tools in winning legislative equality.

But they aren’t the only tools needed. After successfully campaigning in Lismore, I moved to Sydney to take on the role of co-convenor of Community Action Against Homophobia. My first task was to co-organise the 2009 National Day of

Action for marriage equality, which saw thousands of people in Sydney rally outside the National ALP Conference. This event was the first time the national media was saturated in the issue of marriage equality.

Following this, the National Year of Action was launched, which climaxed with the largest coordinated mass demonstration in Australian LGBTI civil rights history. By mobilising more than 12,000 people in 12 cities around the country, one week before the 2010 federal election, this event played an effective role in securing the balance of power for the Greens in the Senate. Rallying played a vital role in generating the electoral backlash we saw in that election over this issue.

The next battle is to change the national ALP platform to support full marriage equality, and you can make this happen by attending the national convergence rally for marriage equality on December 3, at Sydney’s Hyde Park, at 1pm.

Together, let’s march to the National ALP Conference, and make it clear we want full marriage equality, and that adopting civil unions, or a conscience vote is simply not good enough. See you in December!

INFO: By Ben Cooper, co-convenor of Community Action Against Homophobia. www.caah.org.au

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14 responses to “Why we need to rally”

  1. I agree we have to come out in force.
    No offence to the socialist alliance and unions, but we need the public to see us.
    Not radical activists, in the past too many of these rallies have been dominated by people holding signs for unions etc.
    We need to get up to 50 THOUSAND people at this rally.
    Just like in the 80’s when laws were changed legalising homosexulaity

  2. I find the Socialist Party and the Socialist Alliance very refreshing and at least they are ‘real’ Labor people!

  3. I’m sorry you feel that way Benny, and I have no idea what secret agendas you are referring to (unless I have a secret agenda I don’t know about…?), but as a member of a socialist party, I am involved in CAAH because I believe in marriage equality, and I think that socialist tactics are the best way of achieving it.
    In Nepal, for instance, sodomy was illegal and gays were routinely being summarily arrested by police. When a socialist revolution took place, not only were the sodomy laws over turned, but marriage equality was legalized, and a third gender was recognized. Socialist activists were at the forefront of every major human rights victory in Australian history. Socialists fought for universal suffrage, anti-conscripton laws, the eight hour day, and currently are at the forefront in refugee rights, queer rights, environmental sustainability. The reason is what history proves: Socialist tactics work in achieving human rights victories.
    A final point, FWIW, if you were ever spoken to the way Socialists, unions and indigenous people are being spoken about in this discussion, I would leap to your defense. I hope you will eventually find it in your heart to do the same thing for people who are fighting for your rights.

  4. Get real Karl Hand,

    Most socialists do not belong to a socialist political party and as a independent socialist I too am appalled at how these politcal parties use this campaign for their own benifit.

    They know that their behaviour is turning people away, an yet they simply don’t care. They are far more committed to the revolution then they are to the rights of LGBTI people.

    These events should about enabling the community to fight for marriage equality, and they should not be used as a platform for them to push their own politcial party agenda (And yes Cait, that is exacly what it is)

    Socalist Alliance has 30 members in Sydney and Socialist Alternative has 40, and they wonder why they are so small, when this is the bullshit they carry on with.

    Most people who make these VAILD complaints don’t expect you to be invisable, but they do expect you to not use the rallies to push your own bandwagon and they also expect you to not treat the rallies as some sort of recruitment farm. Putting the community and the campaign first is not a big ask – Thats what real socialists do.

    The job of rally organisers is to put on rallies and taylor them to what the community wants, it’s not the job of rally organiser to ignore the endless feedback they receive about this issue, and to put their own agenda ahead of the campaign.

    Cait

    You organisers rallies for one reason, and that reason is because you care about the rights of LGBTI Australias. You don’t organise rallies so you can generate an excuse for milking the campaign.

    Respect is a two way street. If show some you might get some back.

    However, in saying all of this I should point that it’s not the biggest problem in the world, and if you don’t want a socailist leaflet or newspaper, then just tell them no.

  5. As a rally organizer and a socialist, i’ve been stunned over the last few years to realize that I get more prejudice off gay people for being socialist than I do in general for being gay. Some of the quotes written above bagging out Greens and Socialists are really quite hateful – implying socialists are not welcome at rallies, or they can come but they have to be invisible. Well, you would think the LGBTI community would understand that saying “you’re only welcome hear if you hide who you are” is not inclusion at all. I’m not going march as a closeted socialist – I’m going to be loud and proud, and if the red in the rainbow isn’t welcome, then it’s not an inclusive community.

  6. “They’re not there to support the marriage equality cause.”

    Not true at all Neil. In my town (Melbourne) around 90 per cent of the posters and flyers for the events are distributed by the socialists, who campaign tirelessly week in and week out for equal rights. The only reward they often receive is hostility – but it isn’t their fault that large political forces and organisations don’t turn out in force for the days of action (or do so only come election time). If they did, the socialists would be a tiny minority.

    So if you don’t like socialists being a large part of the demonstrations, maybe it would be better to get on to everyone else to come out in support of the cause, rather than harping on about the most active campaigners.

  7. its so frustrating. everytime people who never turn up, or maybe just go to the rallies and dont organise them tell socialists to go away!

    socialists are the ones putting up all the posters, and organising these rallies for the most part!

    Why dont you go try put up all those posters and have all those pro marriage equality stalls without them!

    its just mean to all their hard efforts! how is them turning up and organising marriage equality rallies ‘agenda pushing’? ive never heard them ban people that dont want revolutions! and the posters dont say marxism on them even though its mostly socialists organising them!

    and unions are like 20% of australia! we should be encouraging unions to get all their members out! not spiting in their faces! unions represent something!

    but the worst is someone who says we shouldnt welcome Indigenous speakers, when THIS IS THEIR OWN LAND! they come and say ‘this is our land and we welcome marriage equality on it!’ its very powerful, and shows solidarity.

    for the back seat ppl that just turn up (which is great u turn up) but never ever think about how the protest gets put on with all the speakers and sound equipment and police liason and everything, stop trying to push out the people that do all the work!

  8. “They are doing us a favour by adding to our numbers, advertising, standing up to be counted with us”

    Sorry Shaey, I don’t agree. They’re not there to support the marriage equality cause, and they are a detriment to that cause.

    You want to make a strong message then there needs to be one message. No fire fighters unions, no CFMEU. Just Marriage Equality and you need at least 5000 people there or it will be ignored like the rest of them.

  9. I agree with Tom & Crystal but remember that sometimes it’s give and take with these other activist groups supporting us. They are doing us a favour by adding to our numbers, advertising, standing up to be counted with us, but they do it to have us help their cause and numbers too. Sometimes some of our members are involved with them too. Its a trade-off, plain and simple. I would love to see rallies keep more on track and have more to say about the topic on hand, but isn’t what we are saying we want is equality for all? So we have to have a bit of patience.

  10. agree with Tom too. It does distress me at times to attend and see rallies with so many off topic speakers, agendas and signage. I know there are heaps of issues but please – can’t we have our day? can’t we protest for marriage rights without having to dodge people handing out refugee rally pamphlets? can’t we hold up pro-marriage equality signs without being drowned out by generic ‘greens’ or SAlt signs? In my mind if nothing else it decreases the effectiveness as we end up looking like a bunch of confused people who don’t know what we are protesting about!

  11. The Socialist Alliance and The Greens always hijack these rallies and just replace gay issues with any unrelated topic they consider relevant on the day.
    I’ve never voted for either party, and each time I see the behaviour of their members/supporters at these sorts of rallies, my reslove to never do so just deepens.
    I reckon the protest rallies are a waste of time.
    Marching does very little for the cause, except annoy motoriosts and pedestrians, and our attendance just feeds the egos of the dole bludging organisers.

  12. I agree with Tom R. Happy to have the support of various activist groups, so long as they’re actually there to support OUR cause on that day and not primarily to push their own political agenda.

  13. I attended a rally some time ago but I have to say I was really put off by 2 things; the speakers seemed to talk about everything but marriage equality. You had unions talking, aboriginal rights activists, free Palestine to name a few. There were also red flags everywhere for the socialist party.

    These 2 factors made me feel like the rally was not for me.

    I like the idea of the rallies and I will attend the ALP conference rally, but to get better numbers you need to keep on topic and try and distance yourself from all the political parties ie socialists – so its about the issue of equality.