More than 15 same-sex couples locked lips in Perth’s CBD today to remind the wider community of the push for marriage equality.
Equal Love, the event organisers reported between 50 to 100 people attended in the Murray Street Mall just outside the Perth Underground entrance where a number of testimonials were given between three short ‘pash-offs’.
Equal Love organiser Jess McLeod said the kiss-in was ‘more of a media stunt’ to mark the upcoming seventh anniversary of the federal government’s amendments to the Marriage Act which consequently banned same-sex marriage.
She slammed PM Julia Gillard as a ‘hypocrite’ for her stance on gay marriage since the PM herself was living in a de facto relationship and was reportedly an atheist.
‘The pressure on government is mounting and we know things don’t come easily,’ McLeod said.
‘Victory is in our sights but it is not inevitable.’
McLeod said the current situation in Australia meant that ‘the status of heterosexual relationships is greater than homosexual relationships.’
Despite national and state polls in Australia portraying a majority in favour of same-sex marriage, the resistance to gay marriage was even present at today’s rally.
Spectator to the rally, Derek Moody said he didn’t support same-sex marriage.
‘It should just be a man and a woman,’ Moody said ‘you have to keep the generations going.’
Five police officers with a police van also arrived after the event had started – McLeod said the police were concerned that they hadn’t been notified about the protest but she added that their presence said something about our current freedoms of speech.
The next Equal Love Marriage Equality Rally is on Saturday August 13 from 1pm in Forrest Place, Murray Street Mall in the Perth CBD.
Check out www.equallove.info for more information.
Benn Dorrington
