Posted by Matthew Lang, on May 17th, 2012% 
Being invited to write a blog post for the International Day Against Homophobia aroused a large number of conflicting emotions within me–there’s just so much to talk about. There’s the attempt to make homosexuality a crime punishable by death in Uganda, our straight brothers and sisters being jailed in Russia for supporting the cause of equality, the still entrenched racism in the Gay community itself or the evils of religions still peddling their so called ‘gay-cure’ remedies.
All of these are serious issues, but there’s one story that we often forget to talk about–those people who are outside the GLBT (or LGBT or GLBITQA or whatever alphabet soup you choose to use) community who are championing the cause of equality. Some of them do it loudly, some not so loudly, but a lot of them do it without a lot of recognition or thanks. And some of them do it in the face of being told by their religious or cultural leaders that they shouldn’t, and quite often their faith or beliefs can be demonised by the GLBT community. So I thought, for today, in addition to giving away an ebook copy of The Secret of Talmor Manor, or my short story, Mr. Perfect, and directing you to other amazing blogs around the internet, I wanted to bring you stories and experiences from our heterosexual allies, because it’s often too easy to forget that we are not alone.
So I put a call out for people to share their stories with me, and I got a few amazing responses, some of which I hope to share with you today, as well as some video footage from the Equal Love Rally from Saturday the 12th of May. So enjoy, be inspired, please share your stories and take inspiration from the people who are all around you–all you might need to do is reach out and maybe have a cup of tea with someone you wouldn’t ordinarily talk to.
Oh and before I forget, simply leave me a comment (and don’t forget to fill in your email address) to go into the draw to win one of my ebooks–and if you can correctly tell me which Teletubby was at the May 12th Rally, you can get an additional draw in the competition!
Kerrie Bietzel of PFLAG Victoria speaks at Equal Love, May, 2012
Kendrie Coonan’s Story: Kendrie Coonan is a married mother of two with strong links to the Amateur Theatre scene in Melbourne, Australia. Although we share a number of friends in common, we’ve never met.
I want nothing more than for my children to grow up to be accepted and . . . → Read More: The Words Less Spoken: IDAHO 2012
Posted by Matthew Lang, on May 10th, 2012%
In what is probably going to be the biggest news of the week, US President Barack Obama has officially declared his support for marriage equality in the USA, evoking responses such as the picture you see here.
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So far the best analysis of this has been at The New York Times, who note that this comes after 2 years of Obama’s ‘evolving’ stance of marriage equality despite the widespread belief that he personally supported it. Of course, in America the fear is of alienating the strong religious voters, which is fairly obvious if you read between the lines:
“I had hesitated on gay marriage in part because I thought that civil unions would be sufficient. I was sensitive to the fact that for a lot of people, the word marriage was something that invokes very powerful traditions and religious beliefs.” – Barack Obama
However, the NY Times quite rightly pointed out that there’s been a lot of electoral pressure on Obama to evolve and take a stance, especially given his upcoming political engagements:
“On Thursday, Mr. Obama is to visit the Los Angeles home of the actor George Clooney for a campaign fund-raiser expected to raise about $12 million, much of it from Hollywood people active in the gay rights cause.
Mr. Obama is scheduled to give the commencement address next week at Barnard College in New York City, where he will receive a medal along with Evan Wolfson, the founder and president of Freedom to Marry, a leading advocate for same-sex unions. Mr. Wolfson, who had written that he would “whisper in the president’s ear” to support same-sex marriage, said in an interview on Wednesday, “I’m going to shout, ‘Thank you!’ ”
Also on Monday, Mr. Obama is to speak at a campaign fund-raiser for gay rights supporters. And on June 6, he is to return to Los Angeles to speak at a gala benefiting the gay, bisexual and transgender community.” -Jeff Zelen, New York Times.
This, of course, raises speculation that Obama is announcing his newly evolved stance specifically to avoid having to dodge questions on the subject or otherwise avoid the issue, as well as an attempt to galvanise his support in the run up to the US election. On the other hand, does it matter? One of the goals of the marriage equality movement has always been to get enough support for equality that it became politically viable for politicans to endorse change–preferably that it became untenable for them to oppose it, especially in a democracy. Whatever the cause of the change, Barack Obama has decided it is politically beneficial for him to do the right thing and support marriage equality, or at the very least, it is no longer politically disadvantageous to do so. This is a good thing.
So sparkly rainbow unicorns aside, I would like like you all to join me in saying ‘Thank You’ to Barack Obama, . . . → Read More: Obama backs Marriage Equality
Posted by The Admin Team, on April 4th, 2012% 
The House of Representatives has quietly extended the deadline for it’s public submissions for it’s Marriage Equality Inquiry until the 20th of April 2012. This means that if you haven’t already submitted your views on Marriage Equality, you should take their survey here.
If you’re wondering what sort of things you might want to say, I suggest looking no further than this post on Single Dad Laughing. It’s a very touching story, and was posted as a direct response to a previous post: I’m Christan Unless You’re Gay. I’ll put an excerpt here:
Hello Mr. Pearce,
I am the Christian mother of a 15 year old teenage boy and about a month ago he came home from school with a copy of your article “I’m Christian, unless you’re gay”. The teacher gave his class a homework assignment to read it and write a 500 word essay about “what it meant to them”.
He came home and showed me your article and asked me what I thought about it. I read just the title and became furious at his teacher and at you (even though I know you had nothing to do with her handing out the assignment). Anyway, I confiscated it from him and told him he wasn’t to do anything with it till I had a chance to read it first.
And then I got madder and madder as I read it as I felt like it was a direct attack against our beliefs and our Christian religion and that it was promoting homosexuality, a practice that around here is a huge “sin”.
I gave my son an earful about homosexuality and God and told him that he could tell his teacher that he would not be participating and if she had a problem, she could come talk to me and then I threw the article in the trash. My son didn’t say anything just walked into his room and shut the door.
Long story short, a couple hours later it was supper time and I still hadn’t seen him come out of his room. I didn’t expect it to be that big of a deal to him but I went and knocked and told him to come out, he didn’t answer so I opened his door and he wasn’t there, he had left the house and gone somewhere. Of course I got more mad and tried to call him but he sent it to voicemail. I sent him a text and told him he better get home and he was grounded.
This is the text he sent me in return: “I don’t care. I’m at my friends house writing that essay and I’m not coming home till you read it.”
I think you would have seen steam coming out of my ears if you saw me. I started preparing to go talk to the school . . . → Read More: Marriage Equality Inquiry Extended
Posted by Matthew Lang, on March 27th, 2012%
On Thursday 16 February 2012, the Selection Committee asked the Committee to inquire into and report on the Marriage Equality Amendment Bill 2012 and the Marriage Amendment Bill 2012. One of the things being considered are the views of the community–and as such, every one of us needs to speak up and share our stories and views. As my friend Dan Whitthaus found on his national tour of Australia, homophobia is a very real concern for Australia as a society, and the benefits of combating it are backed up by scientific research. Not only would it decrease the amount we spend on mental health, it would also have a marked impact on bullying, boost our economy–and possibly tourism–and perhaps most importantly, stop Canadians being able to call us a country of backwards homophobic bigots.
Of course, the first people to jump on board have been everyone from the homophobic right, and for the sake of our collective mental health, we all need to take action now. So if you do nothing else, please take 5 minutes to go and take the online survey and give your feedback to the committee and tell them why equality is so important. So stop reading my site and go on over. Go. Now. Right now.
Posted by Matthew Lang, on January 23rd, 2011% 
The Victorian Greens are calling for public submissions ahead of their introduction of a bill supporting Same-Sex Marriage. They are seeking views on the issue in general, on how the law should be framed, and issues such as the legal status and rights granted through marriage; how the laws would apply to interstate residents; the rights of religious celebrants to choose not to conduct a same-sex marriage; and how any new laws would interact with Victoria’s current Relationship Register.
Please submit your views to linda.roberts@parliament.vic.gov.au at Sue Pennicuik MLC’s office or call (03) 9530 8399.
For those of you who are interested, here’s my submission:
Hi Linda,
I saw in the Star Observer that the Victorian Greens are calling for public views on Same-Sex Marriage and I would like to give you mine.
Same-Sex Marriage should happen.
I believe that we may need a new word for ‘marriage’ in general as it currently has two meanings: under civil law and as a religious practice (largely Christian practice). Homophobic and oppressive Christian political groups often insist that the religious practice of marriage be enshrined in law—as that between one man and one woman. This is not only homophobic, but also runs contrary to the ideal of religious pluralism that our secular society supposedly values. Same sex marriage is recognised and practiced amongst those of the Pagan and Neo-Pagan faiths as well as in many indigenous tribal cultures, such as the American Indians. For a secular, non-religious government to insist that the civil rights of two people coming together to live their lives as a couple must be defined under the non-secular, religious and frankly, bigoted view of a religious minority is an unjust denial of civil liberties and a disservice to the multi-cultural society that supposedly embraces religious pluralism.
As such what we need is a recognition that the secular rights and responsibilities of two people coming together as a couple are distinct from any religious influence or preconceptions and should be enshrined in law as dictated by peoples of conscience, tolerance and in the spirit of fairness. These laws should be non-gender specific and be the only legal standpoint for couples whether gay, straight, trans or any other identification I may have missed. This law should ensure that such a union is a secular joining, much in the way that the only legal part of a marriage ceremony is the signing of the marriage registry.
This would make the religious ceremony of marriage a purely internal religious affair, and religions should be free to decide who they will or will not extend that ceremony to—so a conservative Christian church should not be legally obligated to marry two men or two women if that is their viewpoint. However, under the separation of church and state, they should have a legal obligation to stay out of politics and not interfere with the secular practices of those outside of their faith—however, that may be an entirely different battle and piece of . . . → Read More: VIC Greens are after your thoughts on Same Sex Marriage
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