2001 Election
Wrap-Up
Meet the Parents
Upcoming Events
Groundbreaking reform for WA
Co-convenors
Report
THE LOBBY TEAM
Female Convenor
Alex Sosnov
Male Convenor
Anthony Schembri
Secretary
Andrew Pickles
Treasurer
Jenny Mann
Committee Members
Grant Colquhuon
Luke Gahan
Shane Garland
Nadine Lutherborrow
Gillian Mahoney
Nikki Maloney
Jenni Millbank
Anthony Powell
Kathy Sant
Naomi Sharp
Suzy Tay
To Contact Us:
Phone: 02 9360 6650
Fax: 9331 7963
e-mail: glrl@rainbow.net.au
NEWSLETTER: February 2002 |
 
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Co-convenors Report
Happy 2002 and Happy Mardi Gras! We have a full year of lesbian and gay events coming up. The Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby is keen to use this time to spotlight and lobby hard on the many issues of inequality that affect our communities. Were your lobby, run almost entirely by volunteers, so please keep the feedback and ideas coming. Heres a snapshot of what weve been doing lately and where were heading.
The new Committee elected at the AGM at the end of 2001 has been very busy over the summer months planning our campaigns and strategic direction for 2002. We are very excited to be working with a fantastic mix of women and men with varied experience and skills in the fight for equal rights. In the next newsletter well introduce and profile our Committee Members for 2002. Remember you can download or view a copy of the 2001 Annual report at www.glrl.org.au.
Following up on our work during the Federal election, we will continue to work on Federal issues, particularly around superannuation reform. We also await the High Court decision on the Governments Sex Discrimination Act (Amendment) Bill. The state-based rights groups from around Australia are also planning to re-invigorate a national rights focus, and a series of teleconferences are planned to assist in developing a co-ordinated national approach.
However this year we are re-focusing our lobbying and campaign work to
NSW-based issues, with parenting rights, age of consent equality, further
relationship reform, and reform of anti-discrimination laws as key campaign
priorities. Well also begin our campaign work and lobbying around
the March 2003 state election. If youd like to get involved or find
out more send an email to 
info@glrl.org.au.
The commitments given to the GLRL by Attorney General Bob Debus over 150 days ago have still not materialised. Its quite outrageous that there has been no action on these promises, given there are simply tidying up inconsistencies in the relationship reform already adopted by the Government. Well be working very hard to ensure the Government follows through on the commitments in the near future.
A first of its kind we are launching the research report commissioned by the GLRL on the impact of a discriminatory age of consent in NSW. The report was completed by the School of Social Work at the University of NSW and concludes that there is no evidence to support a discriminatory age of consent. We thank Don Baxter for the generous donation in assisting with the reports publication costs. In the coming months we will be undertaking a high profile campaign to equalise the age of consent, drawing upon much of the research in the report.
Another very exciting report, also commissioned by the GLRL and written by Committee Member and family law expert Jenni Millbank, brings together all the available research on lesbian and gay parenting. The report is being launched at Fair Day and is titled Meet The Parents A Review of the Research on Lesbian and Gay Families. Check out our Fair Day stall for details on the report. Both reports will soon be available on the GLRL wesbite.
The Mardi Gras Festival is now upon us, and as with previous years we are active participants in a number of events. Our events and fundraising convenor Nikki Maloney deserves thanks (and a good lie down!). Remember, we need you for the Parade entry and to support our Launch Party at Stonewall on the night of the Launch. See you there!
To assist with the branding of our events the Committee and staff have been working very hard at developing the GLRL logo and identification, so watch out for our new line of t-shirts, GLRL tattoos and a revised website. We thank Jason Cupitt for his work on our website and Shane Garland for all his hard work in developing our logo and publications.
No doubt many of our members will be familiar with the proposed boundary changes to inner city local governments and the controversy that has surrounded the proposal. The GLRL has held a productive working relationship with the Councillors and staff of South Sydney City Council and we acknowledge the leadership shown over many years by SSCC to advancing lesbian and gay rights. Clearly, without the support of Council to through the subsidised accommodation program we would not be able to function. It has been concerning to us that the Minister for Local Government and the Lord Mayor of Sydney City have not been willing to engage in dialogue with us around commitments to ensuring lesbian and gay community rights whatever the outcome the boundary changes. We are, however, committed to working with all local government bodies around issues of interest to our community.
Finally a couple of very quick thank you notes. Thank you to the 2001 Committee members who stood down at the AGM we appreciate your hard work and time in contributing to the work of the GLRL. Thank you to Alan Kirkland and Michael Flynn for wrapping up the administrative matters associated with the Gay and Lesbian History project grant we look forward to the exhibition showing again during the Gay Games. Thank you to our staff Tim Moyes (Administration) and Mathew Jones (Media) who seem to have to work twice as hard during the Festival, and our financial supporters First Fleet Productions (Harbour Party) and Nitegroove (Frisky),without whom we wouldnt be able to do our campaign and lobbying work.
So Happy Mardi Gras and please drop us a note directly at
femaleconvenor@glrl.org.au
or maleconvenor@glrl.org.au.
Anthony Schembri and Alex Sosnov
Co-convenors