We’ve reached September in our series looking back over the news of 2015.
beyondblue announced their support for marriage equality on September 1st, Former Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett, Chairman of beyondblue, signed a joint statement with all 12 members of the board urging politicians to “understand the ramifications of a law that through positive discrimination causes so much unnecessary hurt, pain, mental illness and worse to some.”
While the NSW government banned the documentary ‘Gayby Baby‘ from being screened in schools, Victoria’s newspaper ‘The Age’ published an editorial supporting the film about rainbow families.
Liberal MP Warren Entsch argued that if marriage equality was to be decided by a national ballot it should be able to happen sooner than Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s timeline of 2017 or later.
Andrew Hastie, the Liberal candidate hoping to replace the late Don Randall in the Canning by-election, told reporters that questions about his family and religious beliefs were off limits. Mr Hastie denied that a series of anti-gay articles attributed to his wife were written by her.
Over in the USA county clerk Kim Davis became a household name when she refused to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples defying the ruling of the Supreme Court. Davis argued that she had God’s authority, a judge used his authority to hold her in contempt of court and sent her jail.
Author Bill Muehlenberg said the treatment of Kim Davis was a war on Christianity. The author said the court’s actions against Davis had been “fueled by the demonic wrath of the homosexual militants”.
After six days in jail the judge released Kim Davis.
A homosexual relationship was seen in Chinese cinemas for the first time, the French/Chinese co-production ‘Seek McCartney’ was the first film to get a gay relationship past the country’s censors.
Professional tennis player Sergiy Stakhovsky, who drew attention the previous month for saying women’s tennis was filled with lesbians, said he was sure there were no gay male tennis players. The Russian player said he would be able to sense if a gay player had made it into the top 100 players in the sport.
The Marriage Alliance launched a new campaign for Father’s Day claiming that children without a father in their lives were statistically more likely to be dropping out of school, becoming addicted to drugs, becoming rapists and ending up in maximum security prison.
OUTinPerth tracked down the sources of the stats, some are from reports written over 35 years ago. Curtin University’s Adrian Baddeley, who is a Professor of Statistics said the claims made by the marriage alliance don’t really tell us anything.
Remembering Paul Barry from Media Watch noted that the Marriage Alliance never get offered any interviews, we got in contact them with (the second time we’ve offered them an interview) – we’re still waiting to hear back.
Of course that’s nothing compared to Buzzfeed journalist Lane Sainty who has offered them interview opportunities 17 times at the last count.
Labor senator Penny Wong told Buzzfeed she’ll never be Prime Minister, aside from being in the wrong house of parliament, Wong said she’d never expose her family to the level of vitriol PM’s face.
It turns out that getting married is good for your health. The Public Health Association of Australia (PHAA) and the Council of Academic Public Health Associations (CAPHIA) both urged the government to stop opposing same-sex marriage.
The Australian Electoral Commission said a marriage plebiscite held separate to a general election would cost around $158million. That’s before any public funds are given to the campaigns on either side of the argument.
A senate committee looking into marriage equality heard submissions from people for and against allowing same sex couples the option to wed. Psychologist argued that a public debate on the issue would be harmful to the LGBTI community. Lyle Shelton head of the Australian Christian Lobby argued that a public debate was essential so people heard both sides of the argument.
Andrew Hastie, the Liberal candidate in the Canning by-election said while he personally did not support of marriage equality, if a public vote showed his electorate wanted it he would honour their wishes.
Unity Australia announced a series of rallies around Australia to advocate for traditional marriage being upheld. The group also launched a flag featuring the same design as the French anti-gay group La Manif Pour Tous’. The design had recently also been adapted for a Russian anti-gay groups use.
Community member Stan Schirmer headed down to the rally later in the month to hear the other side of the debate.
In the USA, where marriage equality has recently been achieved, Pat Fagan, the director of The Family Research Council‘s Marriage and Religious Research Institute, suggests gay partnerships should be called ‘ garriage’ or ‘larriage’.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s time in the top job ended abruptly when Malcolm Turnbull successfully challenged his leadership. Tony Abbott said he was proud of his achievements.
Queensland’s Labor government declared they would bring back the state’s civil unions legislation.
The senate inquiry into marriage equality said the idea of a national plebiscite was not a great idea. New Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull confirmed he was sticking with the plan.
Get Up! were sent a $4,000 bill for the cost of emergency services rushing to MP Craig Laundy’s offices when he received a packet of glitter from the organisation.
Controversial posters about PrEP treatment for reducing the spread of HIV appeared over Melbourne, kicking off a debate about where safe sex campaigns were heading in the future, while highlighting the slow pace of bringing in the treatment to Australia.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority ruled that the Marriage Alliance’s ‘iceberg’ advertisements did not breach any broadcasting standards.
Prince William spoke out against homophobia while attending a workshop on the issue.
WA Labor moved a motion in the state’s lower house calling for the state’s parliament to show support for marriage equality and note that the idea of a plebiscite was not encouraged. After some political maneuvering the motion was altered to include just the second part of the proposal – the plebiscite is not supported.
Premier Colin Barnett said this issue was not dealt with the debate would be filled with personal insults and abuse. “I do not want to see this issue go to a plebiscite.” Mr Barnett said. Mr Barnett said federal MPs should accept their responsibilities and deal with the issue. Marriage Equality advocates welcomed the declaration.
The Australian Christian Lobby vowed to shut down the Safe Schools Coalition, a program that aims to atop gay kids being bullied at school. The ACL claimed that allowing trans teens to have knowledge about chest binding could lead to a death that the government would be held responsible for.
A Pride flag made of potatoes appeared on the lawn in front of Parliament House in Canberra.
Labor leader Bill Shorten said new PM Malcolm Turnbull had abandoned his support for marriage equality by sticking with Tony Abbott’s plan for a national plebiscite.
The President of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, delivered a speech to the United Nations where he declared “We are not gays!”.
