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May 24, 2013
Australian Liberal MP latest right-winger to support gay marriage

Youngest Member of Parliament in Australia increases the pressure on opposition leader Tony Abbott to allow his MPs a free conscience vote on same-sex marriage

A Member of Parliament (MP) from Tony Abbott's socially conservative Liberal party in Australia has opened up about his support for same-sex marriage.

'I support the right of same-sex couples to have their loving and committed relationships recognized in state-sanctioned marriage,' said 23-year-old Wyatt Roy, parliament's youngest MP.

However Roy is currently barred from voting for same-sex marriage legislation because Abbott is not allowing opposition Liberal-National coalition MPs a conscience vote on the matter.

April 24, 2013
Melbourne Lord Mayor agrees Australia is looking 'silly' for not going ahead with marriage equality

'I think we'll look back in ten years time and say "what was all that about",' says Liberal Party politician Robert Doyle

Melbourne Lord Mayor Robert Doyle agreed that Australia is starting to look 'a bit silly' for not going ahead with gay marriage as other countries around the world do so.

April 20, 2013
Australian opposition party may change gay marriage vote policy

Opposition leader Tony Abbott says it will be up to a future parliament to revisit the issue of gay marriage and the party room will decide what its position is

Australian opposition leader Tony Abbott has left open the door for fellow MPs to make a conscience vote on same-sex marriage.

This came on the heels of his Liberal party’s New South Wales premier coming out in support of same-sex marriage and calling for free choice. The party’s youth wing has also been calling on Abbott to change.

April 19, 2013
Australian state premier says he supports gay marriage

Prominent Liberal politician comes out in support of legalizing same-sex marriage in Australia

The premier of the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) has come out in support of same-sex marriage.

'As a Liberal who believes that commitment and family units are one of the best ways in which society is organized, I support the concept of same-sex marriage,' said Barry O'Farrell to Fairfax Media, dismissing the argument that gay marriage would damage traditional marriage as 'utterly ridiculous'.

April 9, 2013
Gay couples a step closer to full adoption rights in Australian state of Tasmania

Tasmania’s Lower House has approved a bill giving same-sex couples and unmarried straight couples the right to adopt on the same basis as married heterosexual couples

LGBT rights advocates in the Australian state of Tasmania have welcomed overwhelming support in its Lower House of Parliament for the passage of legislation removing a ban on adoption by same-sex couples, saying it is in the best interests of children.

This afternoon the Tasmanian Lower House voted 18 to 4 to allow same-sex couples to be assessed as potential adoptive parents on the same basis as other couples.

April 3, 2013
Tunisia Liberal Party leader faces claims of gay hotel sex

Tunisian experts suggest reports of arrest of PLT opposition leader Mounir Baatour at the Sheraton Hotel in Tunis could be invented or exaggerated to discredit him

Mounir Baatour, the leader of Tunisia’s opposition Liberal Party (PLT), has been arrested along with another man for allegedly participating in a gay sex act in a Tunis hotel Sunday (31 March) evening.

A pro-Ennahda Facebook page uses highly inflammatory and graphic descriptions of the man who was arrested along with Baatour and the alleged sexual activity – apparently in a bid to discredit PLT’s leader.

February 23, 2013
Britain’s most anti-gay election of all time: Bermondsey 1983

Writing for GSN, veteran gay and human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell remembers his campaign to become a member of the British parliament 30 years ago

A senior Liberal Democrat politician was involved in a secret dirty tricks unit that organized an anonymous, illegal, homophobic smear campaign against the Labour candidate in the 1983 Bermondsey by-election. That candidate was me, Peter Tatchell.

The allegation comes from a former Liberal Party insider, Liverpool city councillor Steve Radford. Appalled by his party’s tactics, he has decided to speak out.

February 21, 2013
Australian Senate may axe religious groups' right to refuse services to gays

New draft of Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination Bill from Australian Senate recommends religious groups are not allowed to discriminate when providing services, but can when hiring staff

Older and sick LGBT people and gay kids at school are set to get a better deal from religious groups, if the Australian Senate gets its way.

A report from the Senate committee examining the new Human Rights and Anti-discrimination Bill recommends that exemptions that allow religious groups to discriminate against individuals when providing services should be removed.

February 7, 2013
Christian Lobby worried Australian Opposition Leader may crack on marriage

The most prominent group campaigning against the granting of marriage rights to same-sex couples in Australia is sending out signals that it is not completely confident that Opposition Leader Tony Abbott will not allow a free vote on the issue

The Australian Christian Lobby has called on opponents of same-sex marriage to lobby Australian Opposition Leader Tony Abbott against allowing a conscience vote for his MPs in a sign that they are not completely confident that moderates within the Liberal Party will not prevail.

Abbott, a conservative Catholic who once studied for the priesthood, is one of the staunchest political voices against same-sex marriage in Australia, yet the Australian Christian Lobby today launched a campaign targeting him on the issue.

February 3, 2013
Australian state election pledge to end historical convictions for gay sex

The Labor Party in the Australian state of Victoria has pledged to wipe convictions for homosexual acts that were prosecuted prior to decriminalization in 1981 and has called on the Liberal Party to do the same

The Labor Party in the state of Victoria has pledged to wipe convictions for consensual homosexual acts that were prosecuted before the state decriminalized homosexuality if it wins government at next year’s state election and has called on the ruling Liberal Party to make the same commitment.

Victorian Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews made the commitment today as the state capital of Melbourne held its annual pride march.

February 2, 2013
Australian Young Liberals call for conscience vote on marriage rights

The national youth wing of Australia’s opposition Liberal Party has called on the leadership to allow all its parliamentarians a conscience vote on same-sex marriage

Australian advocates for marriage equality have welcomed support from today's federal Young Liberals Conference for a conscience vote for all Liberal senators and MPs, saying it increases pressure on opposition leader Tony Abbott to allow all his MPs to vote according to their personal beliefs.

At the Young Liberal federal conference in Hobart this afternoon a motion from the Victorian division in favor of a conscience vote gained two-thirds support.

January 27, 2013
Australian Opposition prepares for election with no LGBT policies

Australia’s opposition Liberal Party is heading into an election without any policies on the rights of LGBT people and a platform which ignores their existence

The Australian Opposition has fired its first shot in the 2013 election campaign with a policy booklet that fails to mention LGBT people or their issues.

‘Our Plan – Real Solutions for all Australians’ which aims to spell out what the opposition Liberal Party would do if elected to government contains no mention of LGBT people or if the Liberals would do anything to formally recognize their relationships while in office.

‘Our Plan – Real Solutions for all Australians’ contains no mention of the issue of same-sex marriage or civil unions.

January 14, 2013
Queensland health minister accuses gay health group of failure

Australian Right-wing Liberal state government minister continues to stick the knife in gay health charity months after cutting its funding

Queensland health minister has delivered an unrestrained attack on the gay health group he cut funding from last year, and the previous state government, blaming them for a predicted rise in HIV infection.

October 18, 2012
Gay candidate runs for Mayor of Melbourne

Former deputy lord mayor Gary Singer, who pushed forward legal rights for same-sex couples when he was last in office, is standing for election for lord mayor of Melbourne

Openly gay former deputy lord mayor Gary Singer is standing for election as Mayor of Melbourne.

Singer stood for election as Lord Mayor four years ago but was defeated by former state leader of the Liberal Party Robert Doyle who currently holds the role.

Singer served as deputy lord mayor from 2004 to 2008 under Lord Mayor John So, Australia’s first mayor of Asian descent who was voted World Mayor in an international popular vote in 2006. John So’s son, also called John, is running as deputy with Singer.

October 16, 2012
Aussie senator stands-by gay marriage leads to bestiality view

Liberal colleagues distance themselves from unapologetic senator after Cory Bernardi reaffirms his views in an interview

Despite losing his frontbench position when he made comments in the Australian Senate last month suggesting gay marriage could lead to bestiality, Liberal Senator Cory Bernardi has not apologized or retracted his words.

In an interview with Adelaide’s The Advertiser published today Bernardi stood-by his views saying the reaction his comments was ‘hysteria’.

October 8, 2012
Voting open for Australia's most outrageous homophobic comments

Outrageous comments in politics, media and sport highlighted by Australian awards

Voting is open for the third Glorias - Gay and Lesbian Outrageous, Ridiculous and Ignorant comment Awards - in Australia.

Started in 2010 by Labor MLC (Member of the Legislative Council) Penny Sharpe, the awards bring attention to the most homophobic comments made internationally and in Australia. 

October 2, 2012
Gay candidates tied in lead for Sydney by-election

Poll shows independent Alex Greenwich and Liberal Shayne Mallard both at 31% of the vote, if the election for Sydney MP was called now

Former marriage equality campaigner Alex Greenwich is neck-and-neck with another gay candidate, Shayne Mallard, in the campaign for the Sydney by-election.

The poll comissioned by Greenwich shows his first foray into politics is off to a promising start, after recieving a full endorsement from former Sydney MP Clover Moore.

The results of the poll show that Greenwich, standing as an independent, and the Liberal party's Mallard would both get 31% of the primary vote, with Greens candidate Chris Harris trailing at 25%.

September 17, 2012
Gay sister of Australian opposition leader wins Sydney council seat

Tony Abbott’s sister Christine Forster wins a seat on Sydney’s council

The lesbian sister of the Australian opposition leader has won a seat on the Sydney City Council.

Chrisitne Forster’s seat was confirmed during a late count on Friday night, meaning that she and another councillor will represent the Liberal party, which is led nationally by her brother Tony Abbott, on the council.

September 8, 2012
Australian Christian Lobby refuses to hear alternative views

The Australian Christian Lobby has refused to have a speaker at its national conference who would have challenged the organization’s extreme claims about homosexuality, after the Australian Prime Minister cancelled her appearance

The Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) has declined an offer by a former Liberal Party state premier to speak in place of the Australian Prime Minister at its national conference after the organization’s head claimed that homosexuality was more dangerous than smoking.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard pulled out after ACL managing director Jim Wallace repeated the claim a second time.

September 6, 2012
Sorry 'not enough' for smoking gay marriage slur

Liberal party politician Warren Entsch says apology can't make up for 'disgusting' homophobic remarks by Australian Christian Lobby head

Liberal party politician Warren Entsch says an apology can't repair the damage done by Australian Christian Lobby head Jim Wallace after he claimed smoking was healthier than gay marriage.

Wallace made the comments at a debate on marriage equality at the University of Tasmania yesterday (5 September), prompting Prime Minister Julia Gillard to cancel her keynote speech at an ACL conference next month.

August 26, 2012
Australian Opposition leader praises lesbian sister’s election bid

Australian Opposition leader Tony Abbott is backing his lesbian sister’s bid to be elected to the City of Sydney’s city council despite their differences over same-sex marriage

Australian Opposition leader Tony Abbott has praised his sister’s candor for standing as an openly lesbian candidate for a traditionally conservative party as part of the Liberal Party ticket for council elections for the City of Sydney.

In the letter sent to Sydney voters, the same-sex marriage opponent and Liberal leader called his sister ‘brave.’

August 21, 2012
Marriage debate resumes in Australian parliament

A bill to legalize same-sex marriage had its second reading on Monday in the Australian Parliament but its prospects remain uncertain, with no date set for further debate or a vote on it

A bill to legalize same-sex marriage had its second reading in the Australian House of Representatives on Monday.

However little light was shed on the bill’s prospects, with only five MPs speaking, and no date for a vote or further debate set.

Labor’s Sharon Grierson was the first to speak in support of the bill, proposed by her Labor colleague Stephen Jones.

August 1, 2012
Australian Finance Minister argues for gay marriage and parenting

Australian Finance Minister Penny Wong defends her family’s right to exist in magazine article

Australia’s Finance Minister Penny Wong makes a powerful personal argument for gay marriage and parenting in the latest issue of SALife magazine.

In a head-to-head debate on gay marriage with Liberal Party senator Nick Minchin, Wong wrote:

July 2, 2012
'Appalling' not to allow conscience vote on gay marriage, says ex-NSW premier

Nick Greiner, Premier of New South Wales from 1988 to 1992, reveals he has a lesbian daughter and supports gay marriage

Former Liberal premier of New South Wales Nick Greiner revealed on a TV discussion show last night that his daughter is a lesbian and he supports gay marriage.

Greiner said it was ‘appalling’ that the leader of the Liberal Party, Tony Abbot, is not allowing his MPs a conscience vote on same-sex marriage.

‘The Liberal Party I've been a member of for 40 years is essentially the party of individual freedom, it's the party that believes in conscience votes,’ said Greiner. ‘If this is not a conscience vote issue then there has never been a conscience vote issue.’

May 23, 2012
Local Liberal politician supports gay marriage in Australia

Support of Northern New South Wales Liberal politician puts pressure on leader of the opposition to allow conscience vote on gay marriage

A local politician in New South Wales, Australia has declared his support for gay marriage.

Scot MacDonald, a member of the legislative council (MLC) for the socially conservative Liberal party, told a local newspaper that he used to think civil unions were sufficient but has changed his mind after speaking to the parents of gay children.