Tag: Australia

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Australia: High Court Rules Same-Sex Marriage Survey Will Proceed

Australia’s highest court has ruled that the upcoming “postal survey” of Aussies asking whether same-sex marriage should be legalized will go on as planned.

From the New York Times:

The Australian government’s highly contentious proposal to put the question of same-sex marriage to a nationwide postal vote is legal and may proceed, the country’s High Court ruled unanimously on Thursday, eliminating the last hurdle before ballots are to be mailed out next week.

The survey — which is voluntary, unlike in-person elections in Australia — was challenged in two separate cases brought by advocates of same-sex marriage and members of Parliament. Run by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the vote will be unique in Australian history: Nothing in the law requires it to take place before Parliament may act, and lawmakers are not bound by its results.

The ruling brings a little relief to the conservative government of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. The decision to conduct the survey has been deeply unpopular on both sides of the issue, birthing a national debate that has been, at times, tumultuous. Advocates of same-sex marriage have pushed for Parliament to vote on the issue directly. The postal vote will cost 122 million Australian dollars, or around $97 million.

Polls show overwhelming support for marriage equality ‘down under.’

Supporters of same-sex marriage say Parliament could vote to pass the measure without spending $122 million on the upcoming postal survey – which is non-binding on Parliament.

LGBTQ activists are urging everyone to make sure and vote.

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Podcast: Marriage Equality In Chile & Australia; National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month; “Where The Bears Are” Premieres 6th Season

In this week’s episode of The Randy Report podcast:

• Progress for marriage equality in Australia and Chile

• Gay and bisexual men are escaping persecution in Chechnya

• Acclaimed web series, “Where The Bears Are,” debuts its 6th season

• Facts, figures and more about National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline – 1-800-273-8255
The Trevor Project’s 24-hour crisis hotline for youth – 1-866-488-7386
The Trans Lifeline – 1-877-565-8860

All that and more on this episode of The Randy Report

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News Round-Up: August 31, 2017

Andres Camilo (L) and Max Emerson (R)

Some news items you may have missed:

• Max Emerson and his boyfriend Andres Camilo have posed for a sexy, sultry photo shoot by Daniel Jaems for the Obsession series (above). More at Attitude.

• There are more out college football players today than ever before.

• Those “regular moms” in the recent hideous anti-same-sex marriage ad in Australia turn out to be liars, crackpots and “ex-gay” therapy advocates. #NoSurprise

• The Trump administration has ordered three Russian diplomatic facilities in the U.S. closed (NYC, SF, DC) “in the spirit of parity invoked by the Russians” after Russia demanded the U.S. reduce our presence in their country by hundreds of personnel.

• “Dreamers” are uneasy as President Donald Trump weighs whether to pull the plug on DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program), a program that protects undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children.

• Check out the fun, new music video for Youngr’s acclaimed single “Monsters.” The artist describes the track as “a song for all the day dreamers and doodlers. I wrote this about my childhood at school. I used to draw my maths teacher as a monster whilst counting down the seconds until I could run home and play my drum kit! So if anyone out there is fed up with school or work, put this track on and turn it up.”

Watch below.

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Hate Group Airs Attack Ad Against Aussie Marriage Equality Claiming Boys Will Be Forced To Wear Dresses

In Australia, the ironically named “Coalition for Marriage” – the group actually OPPOSES marriage for same-sex couples – has released and aired the first ad in the ‘No’ campaign against legalizing same-sex marriage.

Using often-told lies to inflame opposition, the actors in the :30 clip look intensely concerned as they spout lines like, “School told my son he could wear a dress next year if he felt like it” and “When same-sex marriage passes as law overseas, this type of program becomes widespread and compulsory.”

Of course, no one “compels” a young boy to wear a dress to school when marriage equality becomes the law of the land.

And the upcoming mail-in survey (costing the country over $122 million) is about marriage equality, not about what will be taught in schools.

But folks were warned that this kind of hostile and offensive rhetoric would be teed up by the haters as Australia prepares to vote via mail on whether the country should embrace same-sex marriage.

Recent polls show majority support (57%) for allowing gays and lesbians to marry, but who knows what the haters have lined up next?

You can watch the fearmongering below.

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Australia: Surge In Young Voters Bodes Well For Same-Sex Marriage Vote

A late surge in newly enrolled Aussies could prove problematic for the Coalition MPs, not only for the marriage equality mail-in vote, but for future elections. The nearly 90,000 new voters are primarily younger, and we know the younger generations overwhelmingly support same-sex marriage.

Via the Sydney Morning Herald:

A last-minute surge has seen a record number of Australians enrolled to vote ahead of the upcoming postal survey on same-sex marriage. The Australian Electoral Commission on Friday released figures it described as “extraordinary” that show 90,000 new voters – mostly the young – had joined the roll since the survey was announced on August 8.

The development delighted same-sex marriage advocates but alarmed nervous Coalition MPs, who believe the enlarged youth vote will come back to bite them at the next election. A further 675,000 people had updated their electoral details, and 165,000 transactions were yet to be processed as of Thursday night, the AEC said. In total, almost 1 million Australians had either enrolled for the first time or updated their details.

Same-sex marriage advocates were elated at the news on Friday, following a two-week recruitment drive to ensure young, progressive Australians were correctly enrolled to vote. While the massive rise in new voters has buoyed the “yes” campaign, it has disturbed some Liberals who fear the government has shot itself in the foot by fostering a process that has encouraged young, progressive voters to enrol.

Australian government officials have been criticized for holding the vote-by-mail on gay rights. Not only is the survey expensive (over $122 million) but it’s non-binding. The MPs in government could have just voted on the issue and moved on.

Current polls show upwards of 72% of Australians support marriage equality.

You’ll get a good laugh from the satire video below on the plebiscite (vote) below.

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News Round-Up: August 24, 2017

Steve Raider via Instagram

Some news items you may have missed:

• Model Steve Raider’s prescription for a happy life, “A smile a day,” accomplishes his goal; at least on my end 🙂

• Powerball announced that a single ticket sold at a convenience store in Chicopee, Mass., was the winner of Wednesday night’s $758.7 million jackpot, the second-largest lottery prize in U.S. history. Can you imagine? I can 🙂

• India’s Supreme Court has ruled that privacy is a “Personal Liberty guaranteed in Article 21 of the Constitution.” The ruling has implications for several other issues, including sexual rights and freedoms for LGBTs.

• The city of Athens, Ohio joined Cincinnati, Columbus, Toledo, and Dayton in banning the dangerous and discredited practice of “conversion therapy” on minors.

• For 12 hours, MTV Australia is replacing its regular lineup with an automated message urging Aussies to make sure and sign up for upcoming marriage equality mail-in vote.

• Anderson Cooper calmly and methodically offers this epic takedown of Donald Trump’s lies and attempts to rewrite history at his rally in Phoenix earlier this week.

CNN host Don Lemon also offered his take on the Trumpster’s speech: “a total eclipse of the facts” and “without reason.”

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Chris Hemsworth Makes The Case For Aussie Marriage Equality

Chris Hemsworth

We already know there are lots of reasons to love Avengers star, Chris Hemsworth.

Movie star, super-hero, super-easy on the eyes…

But as a vote looms on the horizon for Australians to cast a vote via mail on whether or not to legalize same-sex marriage (skipping the part that it’s icky from the get-go to vote on folks’ rights), Hemsworth took to his Instagram to urge fellow Aussies to vote for marriage equality.

#swoon

Dear open minded, free speaking, laid back, life loving Aussies. Marriage is about love and commitment and, in a country based on equal citizenship, it should be available to everyone! Vote now for marriage equality ✌️#equality

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Australia: “Stop The Fags” Posters Appear Ahead Of Marriage Equality Vote

(image via Twitter)

The campaign for marriage equality is getting ugly fast down under in Australia.

Check out the poster above that’s been spotted in Melbourne which claims children of gay parents are disproportionately abused, suffer depression and are obese.

Additionally, a brochure seen in Sydney declares homosexuality as “a tragedy of a family” and a “curse of death in terminating the family line.”

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who opposes same-sex marriage, denounced the propaganda urging supporters and opponents to “focus on the substance of the debate.”

“I deplore disrespectful, abusive language whether it is directed at young gay people or people of other religions or other races,” he said, according to The Guardian. “If you have friends who are really distressed by this sort of language, stand up for them, put your arms around them.”

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Australians To Consider Same-Sex Marriage Via Non-Binding Mail-In Vote

The Prime Minister of Australia contends that before Parliament moves to legalize marriage equality “down under,” he wants the people of Australia to have their say.

Polls in Australia show overwhelming public support for same-sex marriage – 67% of women and 59% of men in Australia want to see marriage equality become the law of the land.

From UPI:

Australian citizens will be asked where they stand on potential legalization of same-sex marriage in a non-binding mail-in vote, after lawmakers failed to pass legislation Wednesday to make it a national plebiscite vote issue in November.

Canberra’s governing Liberal-National Coalition failed to pass a bill in Parliament that would have secured funding to restore Australia’s compulsory plebiscite on Nov. 25, which means the same-sex marriage vote will instead likely take shape as a voluntary voting effort.

“At the last election, we made a very clear promise to the Australian people that we would not facilitate the introduction of a bill to legalize same-sex marriage until the Australian people had had their say,” Turnbull said in a press conference on Tuesday prior to the plebiscite effort falling short.

The traditional plebiscite and postal votes would not be legally binding if it’s shown that most Australians support legalizing same-sex marriage. Turnbull had said if the plebiscite bill failed, then he would move ahead with the vote-by-mail option.

“We will hold a postal vote on this issue asking the same question in which all Australians will have their say — they will get the opportunity to express their opinion on the issue of whether the law should be changed to enable same-sex couples to marry, fulfilling the commitment we made at the election,” he said.

Some who voted against the plebiscite said they don’t oppose legalization of same-sex marriage, but rather they believe the effort is too expensive and could generate a hate-fueled campaign.

Some lawmakers argue the issue could be resolved with a simple vote in Parliament, but Turnbull’s government seeks to gauge public support first. The Liberal-National Coalition attempted to legalize same-sex marriage last year, but the proposal was narrowly defeated.

As reported above, even if the vote shows same-sex marriage the winner, Aussie lawmakers don’t have to align current laws to reflect that support.

According to Buzzfeed, the “vote by mail” will cost in the neighborhood of $122 million, around $50 million less than a compulsory, in-person ballot.

Or, Parliament could just vote to approve marriage equality – no cost.

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Australia: Government Moves To National Vote By Mail On Same-Sex Marriage After Conscience Vote Fails In Parliament

An attempt to bring a vote on same-sex marriage in Australia’s Parliament has failed again.

From Australia’s ABC News:

Federal Liberal MPs have overwhelmingly decided to keep their current policy on same-sex marriage.

The seven MPs who voted to change the policy were: Warren Entsch and Trevor Evans (Qld), Tim Wilson and Jason Wood (Vic), John Alexander and Trent Zimmerman (NSW) and Senator Dean Smith (WA).

It means the push by a small group of Liberals for an immediate conscience vote on same-sex marriage has failed.

But Mr. Wood said it was “great news” because Australia had come a step closer to having same-sex marriage.

The Coalition will now try again to have a plebiscite — or national vote — on whether the law should be changed to allow same-sex marriage.

Mr. Wood said he strongly believed Australians would vote in favour of same-sex marriage.

And he said the feedback in his electorate was that people he represented would also vote for allowing same-sex marriage.

Opponents of a proposed plebiscite say the national vote will be costly, and in the end, non-binding.

As polls show overwhelming support for marriage equality, supporters say lawmakers could simply vote to change current laws in Parliament, rather than go the route of a public vote.

Watch the report from ABC News in Australia below.