Louise Pratt Speaks Out

Local News, By Joal, 29th August, 2008

Newly elected Australian senator Louise Pratt has broken with Australian Labor Policy in her maiden speech, challenging Kevin Rudd on same-sex marriage.

Gay rights supporter and the only Australian member of parliament to have a transgender partner, Senator Louise Pratt used today’s maiden speech to challenge her party and the country’s leader on the equality of GLBTI Australians.

“I look forward to a time when we will have removed at a federal level all discrimination on the grounds of gender identity and sexuality, to a time when my partner is not denied a passport because his gender is not recognised under our laws; to a time when my friends’ children all enjoy the same rights and protections under commonwealth law regardless of whether their parents are straight or gay; to a time when if my gay friends wish to be legally married, they can be.”

No stranger to controversy, Pratt led the charge in her home state of Western Australia regarding gay adoption rights. WA and ACT are the only two states that allow same-sex couples to apply to be assessed for adoption of unknown children. NSW allows gay and lesbian individuals to apply to be assessed, but not same-sex couples.

Not the first gay senator to enter Australian parliament either, Pratt joins openly gay senators Bob Brown and Labor colleague Penny Wong. However, when Senator Wong was questioned about her personal stance on same-sex marriage earlier this month, unlike Pratt she seemed happy to toe the party-line on the topic.

“My view is that I’m a member of the party, the party’s got a very clear view and that is a view that is supported, let’s be frank, by the vast majority of Australians,” Wong said on ABC’s Q&A.

But 36 year-old Pratt appears more pro-active, saying in today’s speech that conservative leadership fostered division, and that this was not the kind of leadership needed to face the challenges Australia faces, including LGBTI equality.

In a possible reference to former leader John Howard, and even conservative-catholic Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, Pratt’s speech challenges the current Labor policy of eliminating discrimination but saving that very ‘special’ institution of marriage for heterosexuals.

Pratt’s partner Aram Hosie is founder of the WA Gender Project, a lobby group for transgender, transsexual and intersex (TTI) Australians. The group has run a number of campaigns, including challenging the Department of Foreign Affairs’ requirement that individuals hold passports in the gender of their birth, and the Human Rights Commission’s failure to include TTI people in an investigation of the discrimination of Australian same-sex couples.

One of 14 senators entering the Australian senate, Pratt’s rousing speech is set to cause a stir amongst her party and parliament – and we look forward to hearing what else she has to say.

Your Thoughts

Hey there, you need to be logged in to get involved with SameSame, click here to login if you're already a member, or here if you need to become a new member.