Posts tagged pink vote

“Our parliament doesn’t reflect the diversity of Australians. [We need more] women, people of colour, and LGBTI people.”

Coogee state Liberal MP Bruce Notley-Smith has represented his electorate since 2011. In that short time he has achieved much for the LGBTI community, but here he shares a personal story of his early days as a young gay man, set against the brackdrop of Sydney’s early Mardi Gras years.

Penny Sharpe, the NSW upper house’s first openly-lesbian MP, is now Labor’s candidate for the electorate of LGBTI-centric Newtown. Here, she explains why the state-wide LGBTI community would benefit from having a Labor government — and an MP such as her.

Trevor Khan, a Nationals upper house MP, is one of five members of the NSW Parliamentary LGBTI Cross Party Working Group. Ahead of the NSW State Election on Saturday, he argues it’s important for politicians from across the spectrum to continue putting aside their differences in the name of LGBTI law reform.

Gay, lesbian, bi, trans* and intersex rights have always been part of the Australian Greens’ political platform, and it’s no different for its NSW branch. Mehreen Faruqi, the current LGBTI affairs spokesperson for the NSW Greens, explains why her party will continue to advocate for LGBTI equality after Saturday’s state election.

Some of the most gay-centric electorates in Australia go to the polls in the NSW State Election at the end of March. But the Star Observer has been given access to research that suggests the way lesbians vote differs greatly from gay men — and that could have an effect on the result. Benedict Brook reports.