The National Day of Action rally on August 12?

[Cheetah77]

This Sunday the nationwide protest march marks the third anniversary of the Marriage Amendment Bill, which banned same-sex marriage in Australia.

The march (or rally in WA) is to protest against the same sex marriage ban, as well as the ban against Same Sex adoption.

Details are:

Sydney: The march starts at Taylor Square at 1pm and makes its way to Town Hall and then onto Hyde Park, finishing at 4pm.
Rally meetings are held Wednesdays at 6:30pm at UTS Queer Space, Broadway.

Melbourne: The march starts at the State Library on Swanson St at 11.30am and makes its way to Federation Square. Wear something red, festive and wet-weather ready!

Perth: The rally in Perth is on Tuesday 14th August at Parliament House , 12 Noon. Wear something red, festive and wet-weather ready!

Tasmania: Details on the caah website are still yet to be confirmed. Does anyone have further info on this?

More Details: www.caah.org.

So, hands up who's going? I've never been to a march, rally or protest before and my partner and I figure it's about time we added our voices to the cause cos let's face it, if we don't fight for our rights, the government is certainly not going to!!

Who's with me? Maybe us Same Samers can walk as a group??

[Tim D]

I really want to go to this as I couldn't be more behind it, but I'm doing the City to Surf in the morning, isn't Hyde Park going to be just full of trucks packing up etc from the City to Surf the same day?

[Cheetah77]

oooh, I'd forgotten about the C2S Tim... who knows what will happen? The speeches etc at Town Hall and then it's continuing to Hyde Park... maybe it'll veer somewhere else close by instead?

[Tim D]

Maybe the intention was to say the 60,000 people who turned up for City 2 Surf were actually there for the rally? Wouldn't they be great numbers!

[timmeyboy]

Bad bad gays, trying to steal another event's crowds!!! hahahahaha

[Cheetah77]

but then, now that I think about it, the rally wont be getting to HP till 4... C2S is early in the morning (9ish i think) so will prob be all cleared up and moved on to Bondi by then!

[robbie]

I'm all for it, but for 3 fricking hours? jeepers, I think more would come if it wasn't such a big chunk of my sunday time.. is that selfish of me?

[Cheetah77]

Robbie, in the greater scheme of things - whats 3 hours out of your whole weekend to stand up for something you believe in?

[jackie87]

I will probably be too hung over from my birthday but will try and make it anyway

[Zakalwe]

My friends and I will be going, though I doubt the effectiveness of a protest march these days its better than nothing I guess.

[robbie]

Robbie, in the greater scheme of things - whats 3 hours out of your whole weekend to stand up for something you believe in?

what I am believing again? (scrolls up) oh yeah same sex marriages.. ok ok.. I will come along if I am not too screwed after the C2S... :)

[robbie]

I will probably be too hung over from my birthday but will try and make it anyway

the big 2-0 Jack.. oh what I wouldn't give!

[jackie87]

oh yes we are all gonna be wearing blue for my Thatcher theme

[whereswhit]

Im going to the Melbourne one, I went last year and i will continue to go every year until we finally get change

[pinkyboisyd]

So the National Day of Action - largest annual demonstration for queer rights in Australia.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) activists will be rallying in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Lismore and Brisbane, to demand the Government repeals the ban.

The National Day of Action marks the third anniversary of the 2004 Marriage Amendment Bill, which banned same-sex marriage in Australia.

Sydney: Sunday 12 August, 1pm, Taylor Square, Oxford St (www.caah.org).

Melbourne: Sunday 12 August, 11.30am, State Library, Swanston St (www.equallove.org.au).

Perth: Tuesday 14 August, noon, Parliament House.

Lismore: Saturday 11 August, 11am, Spinks Park.

Brisbane: Sunday 12 August, 9.30am, Powerhouse car park.


People will be Marching for equal rights for same sex couples. I think that if your free or not sure what to do you should get to an area close to you and show your support.

This is our future people....and for some of us its our kid's futures too!

[pinkyboisyd]

HAHAHA i didn't see that thread - there u go!!!!

(don't i feel embarassed)

[Tim D]

(It's ok, merging is a beautiful thing).

[pinkyboisyd]

When you say it like that - i feel almost violated LOL!

[Cheetah77]

Thanks Pinky, I just logged on to add the extra dates and info and wallah, you've done it for me!

Colloboration is a wonderful thing... Oh, look at the gays playing nicely together...

[pinkyboisyd]

YAY i'm useful....

not very......

but useful!

[honey-prawns]

i'm all for equality but do we really need to be able to marry each other. it's just a piece of paper

[alison87]

But it's a piece of paper that provides us the same legal rights that straight couples have enjoyed for years. It's not about the ceremony or the tradition - it's about equal rights. "Civil unions" aren't equal, otherwise there would be no need to have marriage and civil unions legally differentiated. Sure, we could say scrap marriage from the lawbooks altogether and bring in non-gender-specific civil unions across the board, but that just seems like a whole lot more paperwork than just amending the law to redefine marriage as between two consenting adults.

[jackie87]

Fuck, I missed it as I was stuck in Bondi!!!

[Cheetah77]

I was saying to Christian earlier today that it was nice to feel part of something, rather than the usual sitting around bitching and slagging each other off that we all tend to do!

the speeches were good although a little long in parts and weren't always on the relevant topic... the walk down Oxford St to Town Hall was great... we stopped traffic and I think the police did an awesome job!! Pity the poor motorists who got caught unawares!!

[robbie]

Glad it went well, promise I'll be at the next one..

[pinkyboisyd]

Gay and Lesbian rights Lobby got lots of emails - which is awesome - they are thinking lots more events like BBQ's and stuff - should be good!

[Zakalwe]

I went as well. There seemed to be a lot of people there. Though what little press coverage i've seen have quoted numbers in the "hundreds".

I wish they would've stayed on message. What has the Iraq War, Land Rights, Workchoices etc. got to do with Gay Marriage? Why, at a march about Gay Marriage do you have a banner about funding "education not war". It dilutes the message.

[jackie87]

I went as well. There seemed to be a lot of people there. Though what little press coverage i've seen have quoted numbers in the "hundreds".

I wish they would've stayed on message. What has the Iraq War, Land Rights, Workchoices etc. got to do with Gay Marriage? Why, at a march about Gay Marriage do you have a banner about funding "education not war". It dilutes the message.
Yes, that pisses me off that they always are run by political groups that want to indoctrinate influential people with their one-sided views on such topics especially when they go on about APEC, quite honestly I couldn't give a fuck about what APEC has to do with gay right, if there are anything at all.

[Tim D]

I would have loved to have gone, but the City2Surf kinda took it out of me. At least it got some great press in the papers today.

[Cheetah77]

So who else went and in what capacity?

Did you walk quietly showing your support silently or did tyou chant and yell and make a spectacle of yourself?

A friend and I sang Madonna songs all the way down Oxford St :)

yes Tim, too gay to function once again!

[Tim D]

So who else went and in what capacity?
A friend and I sang Madonna songs all the way down Oxford St :)

yes Tim, too gay to function once again!

Ha ha, you beat me to it. As long as they were pre-1998 Madonna that's totally ok.

[alison87]

I wish they would've stayed on message. What has the Iraq War, Land Rights, Workchoices etc. got to do with Gay Marriage? Why, at a march about Gay Marriage do you have a banner about funding "education not war". It dilutes the message.

This is the reason i can't stand protests. Even if in theory it's about an important issue, the socialists always hijack it to have a wank about their political ideals. When your average person turns on the TV and sees a bunch of uni students and dole bludgers sitting round whining about Howard they're not going to pay any attention to the rest of the message. I think it's a lot more productive addressing society via positive role models (sports people, TV and movie stars, successful businesspeople etc).

[jackie87]

This is the reason i can't stand protests. Even if in theory it's about an important issue, the socialists always hijack it to have a wank about their political ideals. When your average person turns on the TV and sees a bunch of uni students and dole bludgers sitting round whining about Howard they're not going to pay any attention to the rest of the message. I think it's a lot more productive addressing society via positive role models (sports people, TV and movie stars, successful businesspeople etc).

I agree, Socialist Alliance always think they have support of 100% of gays, their shit is all over my uni, they are too angry too see that a very small percentage of people in Australia accept socialism and for fuck's sake take a fucking shower and shave!!

[Cheetah77]

oh, totally Pre 98 Tim... Started with Express Yourself (we were you see!), then morphed through Like a Prayer, Vogue, Open Your Heart and finished with Holiday - it was very In Bed with Madonna when Madge, Donna and Nicki (her back up singers) sang Holiday on the way to getting arrested in Spain... hehe