More than 4,000 people turned out for the largest rally for LGBTI rights in Brisbane’s history. According to Equal Love Brisbane activist, Larry Auld, the 8 August protest dwarfed a 2012 rally which he said formerly held the title.
“It’s a really great turnout and the energy is just amazing here”, said Hannah, one of the protesters. “It’s good that we can see the Brisbane public getting out there standing up for what they want”, said another, Gedarm.
Darryl said he was protesting because politicians are lagging behind public sentiment on the issue.
“It’s obvious that the community is overwhelmingly in support of marriage equality, they just don’t seem to be listening”, he said.
Roz Dickson, from the Australian Transgender Support Association of Queensland was one of the speakers to address the crowd. Speaking to Red Flag afterwards she said that rallies are important for the campaign: “Politicians don’t seem to want to go out on a limb for what they think is right”.
Roz also said that marriage equality is important for transgender rights. “In Ireland recently, when they passed the referendum in favour of marriage equality, a couple of things happened afterwards, including the fact that transgender people in Ireland now can sign a stat dec, and change their birth certificate”, she said.
“They can stay in a marriage, without having to get divorced to get their birth certificates recognised, and they don’t have to pay for sexual reassignment to get their birth certificate recognised.”
Thousands more also attended rallies held in Sydney, Perth and Hobart over the weekend. Melbourne and Adelaide will hold protests on Saturday 15 August. Ali Hogg, Equal Love Melbourne convenor said that it is a critical time for the campaign.
“We’ve seen thousands already hit the streets to demand equality”, she said. “People want to show they’re tired of waiting for politicians to catch up with the community on the issue of equal rights.”
Upcoming rally details
