G'day JustinO,
A charity auction was conducted in Oz recently for people wishing to have dinner with the PM. Guess who won it? Three same-sex couples! Below is a paste of the email I received from GetUp, the organization that did the bidding on behalf of its members.
-- We wanted to pass on a message from Sandy, who will be having dinner with the Prime Minister after fellow GetUp members chipped in donations to win a charity auction last night. GetUp has not shared your personal information with anyone. --
Hi,
My name is Sandy Miller and I am a fiancée, mother, friend, and primary school teacher.
Thanks to the generosity of fellow GetUp members, my partner Louise and I will be having dinner with the Prime Minister!
Last night hundreds of GetUp members chipped in donations to win a charity auction to dine with Julia Gillard. I guess the PM thought the dinner would be snapped up by corporate donors, but instead Louise and I, and two other same-sex couples will have the chance to tell her our story and ask her to support our right to get married. Thank you to everyone who helped make that happen!
We'll do our best to convince the PM - but ultimately, we need to convince the whole parliament! So would you join in the campaign and take a quick moment to contact your local politician?
GetUp have built a webpage that makes it easy to email your local MP. Just click the link below to take part:
http://www.getup.org.au/legislate-for-love
We know our politicians have been hearing from those who oppose equality, so it's important we get in their ear and remind them that the majority of Australians do support removing discrimination from our laws. In fact, just last week I read a poll saying 75% of Australians believe marriage equality will happen. But it won't happen by itself - we have to fight for it.
Whether it's in my church community, at work or among friends, people often change their minds on this issue. And over time, the nation's mind is changing, with the majority of Australians now supporting marriage equality.
I'm frequently asked why marriage is important to me. Here's why: my youngest son Dylan often asks us “Mummies are you going to be engaged forever? Why don’t you get married?” It has been hard trying to explain that our government won’t let us get married; he doesn’t understand why everyone else can become a family legally and we can’t.
People will continue to say we are different, who we love and how we live is wrong and we are not a family. But I believe that until the government legally recognises that same-sex couples are no different to heterosexual couples and should have the same and equal rights in every area in life including marriage, this discrimination will never end.
Our son Matthew puts it best: “The government are like teachers, they need to set a good example for everyone else. If they don’t accept us as a family then other people won’t either.”
Please join me in contacting our local politicians and asking them to support marriage equality, using GetUp's website:
http://www.getup.org.au/legislate-for-love
We are a loving, close-knit family who have a close loving relationship with my ex-husband, who we consider family. Our children are well-adjusted, polite, intelligent, active, sporty boys who are generous of spirit and have old-fashioned manners. We are just like any other family and proud parents, except in one way: our kids have two mums. We don’t want to be considered special or better than anyone else, we only want the same rights as every other person and couple in Australia - the right to be legally married.
Thank you to everyone who made a donation to win the charity auction for dinner with Julia Gillard. Because of you, Louise and I will have the chance to ask her directly why her Government doesn't treat us the same as other couples. And what's more, the winning bid means over $31,000 go to four deserving Australian charities.
With gratitude,
Sandy
GetUp is an independent, not-for-profit community campaigning group. We use new technology to empower Australians to have their say on important national issues. We receive no political party or government funding, and every campaign we run is entirely supported by voluntary donations. If you'd like to contribute to help fund GetUp's work, please donate now! If you have trouble with any links in this email, please go directly to www.getup.org.au. To unsubscribe from GetUp, please click here. Authorised by Simon Sheikh, Level 5, 116 Kippax St, Surry Hills NSW 2010
Hi,
My name is Sandy Miller and I am a fiancée, mother, friend, and primary school teacher.
Thanks to the generosity of fellow GetUp members, my partner Louise and I will be having dinner with the Prime Minister!
Last night hundreds of GetUp members chipped in donations to win a charity auction to dine with Julia Gillard. I guess the PM thought the dinner would be snapped up by corporate donors, but instead Louise and I, and two other same-sex couples will have the chance to tell her our story and ask her to support our right to get married. Thank you to everyone who helped make that happen!
We'll do our best to convince the PM - but ultimately, we need to convince the whole parliament! So would you join in the campaign and take a quick moment to contact your local politician?
GetUp have built a webpage that makes it easy to email your local MP. Just click the link below to take part:
http://www.getup.org.au/legislate-for-love
We know our politicians have been hearing from those who oppose equality, so it's important we get in their ear and remind them that the majority of Australians do support removing discrimination from our laws. In fact, just last week I read a poll saying 75% of Australians believe marriage equality will happen. But it won't happen by itself - we have to fight for it.
Whether it's in my church community, at work or among friends, people often change their minds on this issue. And over time, the nation's mind is changing, with the majority of Australians now supporting marriage equality.
I'm frequently asked why marriage is important to me. Here's why: my youngest son Dylan often asks us “Mummies are you going to be engaged forever? Why don’t you get married?” It has been hard trying to explain that our government won’t let us get married; he doesn’t understand why everyone else can become a family legally and we can’t.
People will continue to say we are different, who we love and how we live is wrong and we are not a family. But I believe that until the government legally recognises that same-sex couples are no different to heterosexual couples and should have the same and equal rights in every area in life including marriage, this discrimination will never end.
Our son Matthew puts it best: “The government are like teachers, they need to set a good example for everyone else. If they don’t accept us as a family then other people won’t either.”
Please join me in contacting our local politicians and asking them to support marriage equality, using GetUp's website:
http://www.getup.org.au/legislate-for-love
We are a loving, close-knit family who have a close loving relationship with my ex-husband, who we consider family. Our children are well-adjusted, polite, intelligent, active, sporty boys who are generous of spirit and have old-fashioned manners. We are just like any other family and proud parents, except in one way: our kids have two mums. We don’t want to be considered special or better than anyone else, we only want the same rights as every other person and couple in Australia - the right to be legally married.
Thank you to everyone who made a donation to win the charity auction for dinner with Julia Gillard. Because of you, Louise and I will have the chance to ask her directly why her Government doesn't treat us the same as other couples. And what's more, the winning bid means over $31,000 go to four deserving Australian charities.
With gratitude,
Sandy
GetUp is an independent, not-for-profit community campaigning group. We use new technology to empower Australians to have their say on important national issues. We receive no political party or government funding, and every campaign we run is entirely supported by voluntary donations. If you'd like to contribute to help fund GetUp's work, please donate now! If you have trouble with any links in this email, please go directly to www.getup.org.au. To unsubscribe from GetUp, please click here. Authorised by Simon Sheikh, Level 5, 116 Kippax St, Surry Hills NSW 2010
2 comments:
The last line. . .Smartest thing you've ever posted. . hahahahaa
The Oz PM isn't religious but many voters are, not to mention other members of the government and opposition. But I'm not sure that it's only religious people who are opposed to same sex marriage.
As to the slippery slope, I can imagine politicans before homosexuality was legalized saying something like, "If we legalize homosexuality, next thing you know they'll want the right to get married!"
Post a Comment