Hi community members and allies

The Just Equal board notes that the proposals relating to so-called Religious Discrimination bills are likely to be introduced to federal parliament this week, with much debate in all forms of media to follow.

Gay, bi and trans blood is safe blood: that's the take away from a new Just.Equal Australia report into the latest research and best international practice.

The report, by Dr Sharon Dane, looks at the latest clinical research from around the world. Her conclusion is that the safety of the blood supply would not be jeopardised if
a) Australia lifts the current three month abstinence requirement for blood donation by men and trans women who have sex with men, and
b) we implement a new policy that screens all potential donors for their individual risk.

DEVIL IN THE DETAIL: The choice between true marriage equality and new forms of discrimination against LGBTI Australians

This new book by long-time marriage equality campaigner, Rodney Croome, asks the question, should the LGBTI community compromise on marriage equality? Should we accept being allowed to marry in return for new laws that allow us to be discriminated against?

The book looks at what compromises are likely to be proposed, how they will be put forward under the cover of "religious freedom", how they will be defended and why we should not accept them. 

Rodney also considers who has the right to make the difficult choices at stake.

Australian commentator, Peter van Onselen, has written,

“I don’t think churches should be compelled to marry gay couples if it’s against their belief systems, but a Christian baker refusing to bake a cake for a gay wedding sounds pretty bigoted to me. These are issues worthy of further debate.” 

Rodney Croome's book is an important contribution to that debate. Download Devil In The Detail here.

Addendum to Devil In The Detail, Jan 2018

This book was written before the passage of legislation allowing Australian LGBTI people to marry in December 2017. The purpose then was to make a case against compromises in that legislation which allowed discrimination in the name of “religious freedom” (or religious privilege as it should be known). With the religious privilege movement currently in full swing this discussion is now more important than ever.

Downloadable Addendum here.

We are concerned that any marriage equality legislation that entrenches the unequal treatment of LGBTI couples undermines the point of providing for these couples to marry. Indeed, it cannot properly be called “marriage equality”. The many people who support marriage equality because it provides for equality would find it very difficult to support legislation that takes with one hand while giving with the other.

We're keeping the up pressure on parliament to vote down a plebiscite with the release of videoed interviews highlighting the true cost of the 2015 Irish marriage equality referendum.

In conjunction with global LGBTI rights group All Out we delivered a petition of 92,068 signatures to the Australian parliament on 13 October 2016. 

The message was a simple one: Thank You For Promising To Block The Plebiscite! This 2.4m tall thank you card was delivered throughout parliament and attracted enthusiastic signatures from across the political spectrum.