VGLRL – We can’t give up yet
SARAH ROGAN
After the flurry of excitement two weeks ago when the Equal Opportunity Amendment Bill was initially defeated in Parliament, we have now seen the lengths to which the Liberal Party will go in order to shove through discriminatory laws.
The VGLRL commends the efforts of the Opposition during debate on whether the bill could be brought back. It was heartening to hear so many Labor MPs speak against the motion to vote on the bill again and we were encouraged by the many MPs who spoke against the bill when it was initially debated.
Bringing back a defeated bill is nothing short of extraordinary and sets a worrying precedent for the future of this Government. What will they do next? We’ve seen their conservative obsession with law and order, even down to slapping large fines on swearing.
The VGLRL is disappointed in Clem Newton-Brown. After portraying himself as a friend to the queer community, his vote has allowed our community to face possible discrimination in employment and in the provision of welfare services. He voted twice for this bill, he even spoke in Parliament during debate supporting it.
He recalled the history of decriminalising homosexuality in this state, but unfortunately, all that history means little if our community can be discriminated against into the future.
It would be easy to think that with the Coalition having the numbers in both houses, the bill’s passage in the Upper House is guaranteed. But we can’t give up yet. Even though it’s looking grim, we still have time to convince MPs to abstain from voting and that’s exactly what the VGLRL will do this week.
We’d like to encourage you all to contact your Upper House MP. Let them know how backwards these laws will make Victoria, how they will permit discrimination to flourish, how unfair it is for GLBTIQ people to not have the same opportunity as everyone else. We are still fighting to see these changes fail.
Well done to the Don’t Wind Back the Clock crew for organising the snap rally on Wednesday last week and to all the speakers, particularly my last-minute stand-in, Corey. I was sad to miss it but very pleased at the turn-out, especially from unions whose members will be affected by this change in legislation.
Our focus this week is the Upper House. We don’t want this bill becoming law in Victoria.
The Liberals have behaved outrageously, but the hypocrisy of a Labor MP declaring ‘no government has a mandate to discriminate’ is equally ridiculous. The NT intervention, the ABCC, mandatory detention of refugees…until the queer community takes a serious interest in the similarities between our situation and that of other groups (workers, refugees, Indigenous people, etc.) we will never be able to stop things like this happening. Isolated into our little groups we are useless and toothless to fight these disgusting bills.