Equal Love to
Protest in Brisbane Streets.
A rally for
equal marriage rights will be held at Brisbane’s Queens Park on Saturday, 12th
May 2012. The rally will be held by the Equal Love organization for their
National day of action. Equal Love will be campaigning in all major Australian
cities. Brisbane Organiser, Ms Jess Payne, says the event is for the broader
community, “it’s an event for all who support equal rights.”
Public figures
including ABC’s Andrew Denton and the cast of the Hungry Beast have pledged
their support of the Equal Love campaign. Ms Payne says the majority of young
people are also supporters of marriage equality, but the challenge for the
campaign is “turning all passive support into active opposition.”
The Equal Love
group created the National Day of Action “to publicly pressure the government,”
Ms Payne says. The group is urging the government to remove the ban on gay
marriage by amending the Marriage Act.
The Equal Love group
is still confident that the campaign will be effective despite the protests of
anti-gay marriage Christian groups lead by Mr Peter Madden. Mr Madden, a Democratic
Party candidate, led a protest truck throughout parts of New South Wales and
Queensland in March. “The protest truck was decorated with
anti-ALP and anti-homosexual advertising,” says Ms Katherine Feeney of the
BrisbaneTimes.com.
The Saturday, 12
May Equal Love event will not only include a march around the CBD with
chanting, but “a range of speakers including religious figures and activists,”
Ms Payne says.
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