Will Julia Let us Marry?
In a sudden ascension to power, Julia Gillard replaced Kevin Rudd as Prime Minister of Australia late last month. Australian Marriage Equality was quick to act on the decision by the ALP, congratulating our first female PM on her new role in an official letter. The same-sex marriage organisation lobbied Ms Gillard to amend the Marriage Act and current ban on same-sex marriage. However, the new PM has previously stuck to party lines and followed Mr Rudd’s decision to leave the current ban intact. AME National Convener Alex Greenwich sent the letter on the day Ms Gillard entered office, including a series of arguments against the prohibition of same-sex marriage.

Adoption on the NSW Agenda
Sydney’s Lord Mayor and state member, Clover Moore has called on the NSW government for greater equality by allowing same-sex couples to adopt children. The member for Sydney introduced the Adoption Amendment (Same-Sex Couples) Bill, a move consistent the recommendations of the recent 2009 Legislative Council Standing Committee on Law and Justice report. Ms Moore said the law should protect children’s rights and support all loving families. ‘Most same-sex adoptions involve “known” adoptions and step-parenting situations where one partner brings children to a new relationship. These children deserve to have their parents legally recognised,’ Moore said.

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Bisexual Film Wows Festival
A story about a bisexual love triangle took out top honours at this year’s Sydney Film Festival last month. ‘Heartbeats’ won the Sydney Film Prize, directed by 21-year-old French-Canadian Xavier Dolan. Sydney Film Festival Jury President Jan Chapman credited the film with a witty and insightful script observing the heart ache of the hopeless crush. The plot playfully follows Francis (Dolan) and Marie (Monia Chokri) who are a couple of drop-dead gorgeous twenty-something hipsters whose friendship is rocked when they both fall for Nicolas (Niels Schneider). This is Dolan’s second feature length film; his first ‘J’ai Tue Ma Mere’ (I Killed My Mother) explored a mother-son bond and won three awards at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.

Brisbane Pride a Success
Brisbanites rallied together to march in support of this year’s Brisbane Pride March on June 12 through the city and Southbank area. Brisbane Pride’s theme for this year was Love our Way, a callout to government and society alike to acknowledge same-sex relationships. LGBT website, Samesame reported a larger crowd than the year before, despite a smaller turnout at the annual Fair Day. Dykes on Bikes also made an appearance as they lead the march through to South Bank’s Musgrave Park.

More Gold for Mitcham
Australia’s Olympic gold-medallist Matthew Mitcham swept up another win at the 2010 FINA Diving World Cup last month, taking home first place in the men’s 10m platform dive. The openly-gay Sydney diver won the gold on the last day of the competition, despite China claiming seven of the eight titles at the Championships. The 21-year-old placed fourth after the first two dives before landing a perfect score of 10 with a reverse, three and a half somersault tuck. ‘It is a very close competition in which everyone shows his best and that pushes me to try my best, too,’ Mitcham told FINA.

Benn Dorrington

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