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Australia: Independents Have Dinner With Marriage Equality Activists

Thursday, October 27th, 2011

THE four independent federal MPs – Rob Oakeshott, Tony Windsor, Bob Katter and Andrew Wilkie – will dine with supporters of marriage equality from their own electorates at Parliament House, Canberra on Monday night.

The dinner was won by the lobby group Australian Marriage Equality in a charity auction at this year’s parliamentary Mid Winter Ball. The funds raised went to children’s charities, including Angel Flight.

Australian Marriage Equality national convenor, Alex Greenwich said community members attending the dinner will be from all four independents’ electorates and they will tell their representatives why marriage equality will have a positive impact.

Full Story from The Manning River Times

Click here for gay wedding resources in Australia.

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Tags: australia, gay activists, marriage equality

Australia: Campbelltown Couple Fight for Marriage Equality

Monday, October 17th, 2011

BRENDON Beavan’s mother will never see her son walk down the aisle with his partner, Michael Faucett. She died unexpectedly last year but the Campbelltown couple hope a wedding celebration in her memory isn’t too far away.

Mr Beavan’s fight for marriage equality has strengthened since the death of his mother, and on Wednesday he joined Mr Faucett in the Real Families, Real Stories, Marriage Equality Goes to Canberra campaign.

The couple joined 30 other same-sex couples to talk to federal MPs about how marriage equality affects their lives and the lives of their family and friends.

Full Story from the Macarthur Chronicle

Click here for gay wedding resources in Australia.

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Tags: australia, campbelltown, canberra, gay activists, gay couple

Australia: Gay Activists Meet With MP’s and Senators

Wednesday, October 12th, 2011

Federal MPs and senators have been told legalising same-sex marriage should be about people and not politics.

About 60 people, supporting what they call marriage equality, met with more than 40 politicians at Parliament House in Canberra on Wednesday.

Australian Marriage Equality campaign director Alex Greenwich said there was support for same-sex marriage from MPs in every political party. As well, there was majority support in the wider community.

Full Story from Sky News

Click here for gay wedding resources in Australia.

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Tags: canberra, gay activists, marriage equality, mp's, senators

Australia: Marriage Equality Advocates to Meet With Members of Parliament

Tuesday, October 11th, 2011

About 60 Marriage Equality representatives from around Australia will travel to Canberra on Wednesday to meet with more than 40 MPs to discuss with Parliamentarians on both sides of the house how marriage equality affects their lives, and the lives of their family and friends.

Aged between 9 and 91 years, people are coming from every Australian state and territory, and will share their family’s story with various MPs and Senators from all parties throughout the day.

“Marriage Equality is an issue about fairness, equality, and families. Tomorrow we will show Canberra the positive impact this reform would have on Australians from all ages and backgrounds, from coast to coast,” Alex Greenwich, campaign coordinator, said.

Full Story from IBTimes.com

Click here for gay wedding resources in Australia.

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Tags: australia, canberra, gay activists, mambers of parliament, marriage equality

What Gay Activists Can Teach The Left

Monday, September 26th, 2011

Remember when you believed that if we just elected enough Democrats to Congress and took the White House, we could take this country back? We could stop giving tax breaks to people who didn’t need them so that we would have a shot at creating jobs, providing for those in need, and still break even. We could end government-inspired discrimination against people because of the way they look, who they love, or where they were born. And we could actualize “the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal,” to quote Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.

That was 2008.

As Keith Harrington, an environmental activist, wrote last month:

Three years ago, I spent a number of weekends going door to door in Virginia urging people to vote for our president. In that campaign I found a sense of pride, a sense of excitement, a sense of energizing virtue.

This weekend, I spent a good chunk of time training to do civil disobedience at President Obama’s door in the desperate hope that he’ll fulfill the promise that drove me onto the streets for him in 2008. And in so doing I’ve found the same sense of pride, the same excitement, and the same energizing sense of virtue that I did three years back.

Full Story from The Atlantic

Click here for gay wedding resources.

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Tags: gay activists, left, progressives

NC: Asheville Activists Prepare to Fight Marriage Equality Ban

Sunday, September 18th, 2011

Less than a week after state lawmakers voted to put a question on May’s primary ballot to let voters decide whether the state Constitution should be amended to ban same-sex marriage, supporters on both sides of the issue are already positioning themselves for a months-long battle.

The proposed amendment, which will be on the May 8 ballot, has already divided those who support traditional marriage between a man and a woman and those who say the change in the Constitution would take away protections and benefits that now exist for people in same-sex and opposite-sex civil unions and domestic partnerships.

Bill Brooks, president and executive director of the N.C. Family Policy Council, which supports the amendment, said he hopes to see a positive campaign over the next eight months, focusing on the importance of traditional marriage.

Full Story from the Citizen Times

Click here for gay wedding resource in North Carolina.

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Tags: asheville, gay activists, north carolina

New Web Tool Helps Gay Activists Rally the Troops

Sunday, April 24th, 2011

Solely judging on the name, Friendfactor (Facebook, Twitter) sounds like a new social networking site for people to get in touch with old friends, contacts, etc.

This organization is something better–Friendfactor focuses on building tools that make it easier for straight friends to assist their LGBT friends to attain equal rights, quicker than even the folks at Friendfactor ever thought possible.

On May 3rd will be Friendfactor’s New York launch fundraiser which will reinforce this goal and share ideas on how to build stronger connections and ways for allies to help their friends in the LGBT community.

Full Story from OutImpact

Click here for gay marriage resources.

To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.

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Tags: friendfactor, gay activists, web tool

Young Gay Israeli Activists Speak Out

Wednesday, April 6th, 2011

A new generation of Israeli queer activists is galvanized to fight for LGBT rights in the aftermath of the 2009 shooting at Tel Aviv’s gay community center that left two people dead.

“It gave us more power … it made us grow as a community, it made us more aware, and that awareness gave us power,” said Anna Shilansky, a young lesbian who was one of the people who was shot and injured on August 1, 2009. She was inspired by the outpouring of support from Israeli elected officials and citizens at a rally a week after the incident.

Recently, Shilansky and three other Israeli LGBT young people were in San Francisco and spoke at Congregation Sha’ar Zahav. She told an audience of about 50 people that she was afraid to return to the center after the shooting. She changed her mind after speaking with a counselor who reminded her that the center was her “home.”

Full Story from The BAR

Click here for gay marriage resources.

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Tags: gay activists, israel, tel aviv

Thailand: 500 Gay Burmese & Thai Activists March for Gay Rights

Monday, February 21st, 2011

About 500 Burmese and Thai homosexual activists staged a protest against discrimination against gays and lesbians in Chiang Mai, Thailand, on Sunday. Gay, lesbian and transgender people from Burma and Thailand demonstrated for their human rights on Sunday in Chiang Mai, Thailand. (Photo: Mizzima)

The demonstration, organised by Thai and Burmese human rights organisations, HIV care organisations and homosexual rights advocacy groups included gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people who demonstrated in the Chiang Mai Night Bazaar area.

[Gay] activists have staged protest demonstrations in Chiang Mai since 2007. Khun Narumon Parawat, the deputy mayor of Chiang Mai, opened the demonstration, and Christian priests and Buddhist monks delivered speeches against discrimination.

Full Story from Mizzima

Click here for gay marriage resources.

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Tags: chang mai, gay activists, march, thailand

China: Gay Activists Crash Beijing Kissing Contest

Thursday, February 17th, 2011

Valentine’s Day in China.

Shanghaiist writes:

“Two days ago, on Valentine’s Day, ballsy gay and lesbian couples in Beijing decided to gatecrash a kissing competition held by the New World Shopping Mall to raise the visibility of China’s LGBT community and to drum up support for same-sex marriage.”