Thousands rally for same-sex marriage: MCV

Ron Hughes, MCV 25 May 2010

Almost 5,000 people turned out to rally for same-sex marriage on Saturday, May 15. The National Day of Action saw rallies in all the major capitals with Melbourne’s by far the largest.

Sir Ian McKellen – accompanied by the director and co-stars of Waiting for Godot – addressed the crowd before handing a petition of 100,000 signatures to the Greens’ sexuality spokesperson, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young.

Phoebe Kelloway, Queer Officer of the National Union of Students said Hanson-Young literally struggled under the weight of the petitions handed to her.

“The numbers are indisputable: 60 per cent of Australians support same-sex marriage, 100,000 people signed the petition in support of equal marriage rights and over 6,000 people [nationwide] rallied against the homophobic marriage ban,” Kelloway said.

“It is clear now, more than ever that the Rudd Labor government lags well behind the desires of the Australian populace.”

Equal Love publicity officer Ali Hogg called the rally an “outstanding success”.

“This demonstration was planned to coincide with the International Day Against Homophobia. We wanted to highlight that it is the Rudd government maintaining state sanctioned homophobia in Australia today with the ban on same-sex marriage,” Hogg said.

“We were overwhelmed by the response that saw supporters of equal rights from all sorts of backgrounds and circumstances come together.”

Hogg said Equal Love had a “silent majority” on its side. “We are determined to turn that silent majority into a very vocal one, and to drown out the bigotry and hatred in society,” she said.

IMAGE: Sir Ian McKellen hands the petition to Senator Sarah Hanson-Young with a flourish. Photo: A. Shaw