It’s safe to say that the Gay Rights movement is alive and well. Whether fighting for marriage equality, the right to adopt a child or to avoid imprisonment – gays are campaigning against oppression and intollerance in the four corners of the earth.
Where is it all heading though? We asked the readers of OUTinPerth how they thought gay rights would develop in Australia in the next ten years, the answers are varied and full of hope, here are a few of them:
Marcello Anthony: I think, now that Barack Obama is pro gay marriage it’s only a matter of time before Australia follows suit. It’s going to happen! May not be soon but it’s going to happen.
Kym Elson: I think [marriage equality] will happen eventually. The government will wake up to the fact that equal marriage is the future and everyone’s just gotta deal with it. It happened in America and our government loves copying the Americans, so its gonna happen no doubt about that. It just might be at the 9 years and 11 months mark.
Matthew Jackson: I think gay rights have been a long term proposition and though political stances may soften to the idea, the longer ramifications will be influenced culturally. As long as there is a lack of division between church and state we will undoubtedly have ongoing issues in securing true equality. Having said this, however, as a long term proponent of GLBTI rights, I would have to say that the future looks a lot brighter than it did in the eighties. I would hazard the opinion that internal divisions within our community may do more damage than external influences. There still appears to be innate division between the GL, the B and the TI in the broader community. Until this is rectified I would proffer that we often remain our own worst enemies.
Paul Van Lieshout Hunt: With each generation, a new era of acceptance and open-mindedness is born. I give it four years before marriage is legal between same-sex partners. I don’t think we should sit back and let things happen however, it takes pro-activity for all civil rights movements.
Federal Labor politician Louise Pratt agrees with much of what readers had to say, the Senator spoke to OUTinPerth about what she would like to see in the next decade, ‘You would hope we’ve achieved marriage equality and you hope we’d have achieved easier access to recognitions of peoples gender identities.’
Social inclusion and a greater international advocacy also made the list for the next decade, ‘we’ve come such a long way, just being seen as ordinary Australians like everyone else, which we are!’, said Pratt.
Nadine Walker
