Rainbow Labor Same Sex Same Entitlements Celebration

Friday 31 October 2008

Acknowledgement of Country

Acknowledgement of special guests

Federal parliamentary colleagues Robert McClellend, Tanya Plibersek, State parliamentary colleagues Verity Firth, Peter Primrose, Helen Westwood, Councillors Mark Drury, Mary O'Sullivan and Mark Lennon (Unions NSW).

I have stood before gatherings of the Rainbow Labor Tribe on many occasions.

These gatherings have always been fun. Sometimes been a bit smaller than tonight. 

Tonight sets a new benchmark.

Let's put our hand together for the organisers of tonight: Michael Vaughan, Dan Doran and Joy Kyriacou and the rest of the voluntary Rainbow Labor team.

We have previously come together to celebrate the reforms of the past and we have always reminded ourselves that it is Labor that has introduced and delivered every significant piece of GLBT law reform across our state and federal parliaments.

It is Labor that decriminalised homosexuality.

It is Labor that first funded organisations like Twenty10 and the Gender Centre, and introduced programs such as the Gay and Lesbian Liaison Officers in NSW Police.

It was Labor that first removed discrimination against same sex couples.

It is Labor that worked with the GLBT community to develop the world's best practice response to the HIV epidemic and,  before the Howard years, it was Labor that had started down the path of federal reform.

Tonight we gather here to celebrate the most recent and most significant reforms in both NSW and under the Rudd Labor government.

This year the NSW Labor Government amended another 48 laws in NSW that remove discrimination against same sex couples.

Most significantly - NSW recognised lesbian couples with children as the legal parents of their children.

This reform is important for our kids and for our families.

These reforms are also symbolically important.

Legislation that supports equality sends a strong message to the community that Gay and Lesbian families are no different from any others and that they are entitled to the same legal protection and respect as every other family.

Tonight I would like to formally acknowledge the many people who worked so hard to make the NSW reforms a reality :

Firstly the Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby and organisations like ACON who have done the hard yards over many years to bring these issues to the attention of our governments.

I would like to acknowledge the work of rank and file Labor members who through Rainbow Labor, their local branches and their unions they have worked tirelessly to put these issues to Labor governments.

To the committed Labor MP's in the state parliament who have stood up for equality. Verity Firth, Carmel Tebbutt and Helen Westwood are just a few of these.

And to the Labor Ministers, leaders and their staff past and present Bob Carr, Jeff Shaw, Bob Debus, Morris Iemma and John Hatzistergos who have delivered the reforms.

I would like to finish tonight by reading some quotes from material I received during the debate this year.

I am not sure what sort of material is coming through to our federal colleagues during the current debate but this is just a taste of the material I received:

From the Festival of Light -now known as Family Voice

This bill would if passed, further undermine marriage and religious freedom in NSW as well as burdening children born to lesbians with permanent parental links to their mother's sexual partner

Or

Society does not need to weaken its laws to recognise a small minority of people who cannot live within the normal boundaries of heterosexual marriage.

Or

It is ridiculous to cater to the desires of a perverted minority in the name of political correctness.

Or

The fact is that lesbian mothers already have too many rights

... in caps, in bold and underlined

The outcome in the NSW Parliament was much more positive  - In the Upper House the extreme right of the Liberal Party, a lonely Nat and the Christian Democratic Party forgot to vote against the bill when they had the opportunity.

In the Lower House, only 11 MPs voted against.

After the dust had settled - these are some of the emails I received:

It means so much to our family that our love and commitment is spoken for in such strong terms, and that the inequalities in the status of our arrangements are increasingly being addressed. Its a good thing that you have done for all of us - big thanks!!!!

Fantastic news for the children of NSW.. and their mummies! So much more to do but we are getting there.

THANK YOU so much for making such an enormous difference to our lives. This is a huge step forward for our family. Our son is well-loved and brings joy to us every day, and now he will also legally have both his parents on his birth certificate. It doesn't mean much to him now (he's only 2) but it sure means a lot to his Mums.

My partner and I have just found out we are 7 weeks pregnant through IVF.  We feel humble that our members of parliament have open the way for our children to be treated equally and my partner will be recognised as their legal guardian.  Your support for us will live long inside our family that I shall remind them of the great deed you have done for us.

Great to hear that it has passed!  We really do feel so much more secure as a family as a result. It is such a positive step forward for recognition of all types of families.

In some ways of course it won't change anything in our lives - our children are already really clear about our roles and connections to each other which have nothing to do with laws or biology. But in others of course it is makes all the difference to us - in the day to day interactions we have with the wider world and the public and formal recognition of our family.  Personally - confident as I have felt about my love and responsibility for my kids but I have been surprised in some ways about how emotional I have felt at knowing that our relationship and that of both our sons (and for that matter the boys to each other) will be formally and more broadly acknowledged.

It is rare that I feel so personally about something a parliament has done, and I've never written directly to someone before to thank the government for their work. So thank you so much. It means the world to our family.

Labor has delivered these important reforms.

We have achieved so much in just the past decade and in particularly the last 12 months.

Tonight let's raise a glass for the reform so far and commit ourselves to getting the rest of the reform done as soon as possible.