Only one way forward
This letter, in response to 'Balancing Acts trip up on tightropes', was sent to the Canberra Times on 31.12.08.
Dear Editor,
Victor Violante unfairly diminishes the ACT's current civil partnership scheme (26.12.08) when, in fact, it is one of the best of its kind in the world.
Unlike the UK civil partnership scheme, the ACT scheme has official ceremonies, providing couples with an opportunity to solemnise their union.
But unlike the New Zealand scheme, the ACT scheme makes these ceremonies optional, for those couples who don't need a ceremony.
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'Short on romance'
This letter to the editor was sent to the Australian newspaper on 26.5.08. An extract from the article by Christian Kerr to which the letters responds comes first.
(From 'Gay outcry, roos in the land of Grassby lovers', the Weekend Australian, May 24-25, p31)
Exciting (the new ACT registry) may be, but it can also come up a little short on romance. Couples wishing to register their relationship have four options to choose from. Two of these are simply over-the-counter transactions: pay $192.50, get the paperwork fixed and that’s it.
They can go down the path of a full commitment ceremony with a civil celebrant, but that will give them no further legal standing. The process effectively offers nothing but a statutory declaration.
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Letters to the Editor
The Australian
Dear Editor,
In his recent commentary on the new ACT civil partnerships scheme, Christian Kerr mischaraterises this scheme in a way which illustrates a broader misunderstanding in Australia about what constitutes a civil union.
Partnership certificates, as they are currently issued in Tasmania, the ACT or soon Victoria, are not as Kerr claims "effectively statutory declarations".
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Lies about Tasmanian registry
This letter was sent to the Australian LGBT media in early March 2008.
re: Tasmania's relationship registry
Dear Editor,
Gay Australia has been fed a lie and worse, swallowed it whole.
That lie is that Tasmania's relationship registry is a second-rate, watered-down scheme for relationship recognition, when the fact is it is the best civil union scheme on offer in Australia or anywhere in the world.
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Mersey Hospital entitlements
These letters were sent by the TGLRG to state and federal health ministers on 1.11.07.
Rodney Croome and Jen Van Achteren
Spokespeople
Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Rights Group
Hon Tony Abbott
Minister for Health
re: the Prime Ministerial Decree on entitlements for Mersey Hospital employees
Dear Mr Abbott,
Employees of the Mersey Hospital who are in same-sex relationships have contacted the Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Rights Group to express concern about their entitlements should the Commonwealth assume control over their workplace.
In the Tasmanian public sector, employees in same-sex relationships have equal rights, and their partners equal recognition, in areas such as superannuation and leave entitlements.
This is not generally the case for employees of the Commonwealth.
The employees who have contacted us wish to clarify whether the Prime Ministerial Decree on Mersey Hospital entitlements ensures they will not suffer a decline in workplace entitlements under their prospective employer, the Commonwealth.
In particular they and we would like to know,
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'Same-sex spouses to lose compo'
This letter on same-sex partner superannuation entitlements, was sent to the Australian newspaper on 29.10.07.
re: "Same-sex spouses to lose compo", The Australian, 29.10.07
Dear Editor,
In 2004 the Howard Government promised to remove discrimination against same-sex partners in superannuation. This was its trade-off for entrenching marriage as the union between a man and a woman. It was a promise made explicitly by the Prime Minister, and by Government front-benchers such as Senator Helen Coonan.
Not only has the Government not fulfilled that promise but it has now made matters worse by quietly transferring same-sex partners from state-run schemes which recognise their relationships, to the unreformed Commonwealth scheme which doesn't (The Australian, 29.10.07).
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"Entitled to equality"
This letter was sent to Australian Democrats Senator, Lyn Allison, on 10.10.07
Senator Lyn Allison
Senator for Victoria
62 Wellington Pde
East Melbourne VIC 3002
C/o Tim Wright
re: Entitled to Equality report and registered relationships
Dear Senator Allison,
Thank you for convening the inquiry into same-sex couple entitlements
and for the resulting report “Entitled to Equality”.
The report will make an important contribution to the long-overdue recognition of same-sex de facto couples in federal law.
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Relationship registries (II)
This letter from the TGLRG was sent to Human Rights Commission, Graeme Innes, on 10.10.07.
Graeme Innes
Human Rights Commissioner
Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission
C/o Vanessa Lesnie
Director, Human Rights Section
re: “Entitled to Equality” inquiry and relationship registries
Dear Mr Innes,
On August 30th we wrote to you expressing our concern about aspects of the “Same-sex: same entitlements” report dealing with state relationship registries.
Pursuant to that, we would like to raise the following concerns relating to your evidence, as Human Rights Commissioner, to the recent federal parliamentary “Entitled to Equality” inquiry.
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Telstra policy on same-sex marriages / registries
This letter, from the TGLRG, Australian Coalition for Equality and Australian Marriage Equality, was delivered on 18.9.07.
Sol Trujillo
Chief Executive Officer
Telstra
Cc: Andrew Maiden
News Services Director
re: equal entitlements for same-sex couples
Dear Mr Trujillo,
We welcome Testra's commitment to equal relationship entitlements for partners in de facto same-sex relationships (reported in The Sydney Star Observer, 13.8.07). We also applaud what we understand to be your personal commitment to this important initiative.
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Relationship registries
This letter from the TGLRG to the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission was sent on 30.8.07.
Graeme Innes
Human Rights Commissioner
Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission
re: Relationship Registries
Dear Mr Innes,
The Same-sex: same entitlements report, recently-released by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, is an important step towards eliminating discrimination against same-sex couples. We commend the HREOC and you personally on the report.
However, we are concerned by aspects of the report related to relationship registries, such as the registry which currently operates in Tasmania.
Our concerns fall into three areas: firstly misrepresentations of the Tasmanian registry, secondly an under-estimation of the importance of registries, and thirdly the status of state registered relationships in federal law.
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Hate crime investigations
This letter to the editor about the murder of Kamehn Schrader was published in the Hobart Mercury on August 21st, 2007.
When a lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) person is assaulted or murdered, hate should be one of the first motives seriously considered by investigators.
However, it appears that in the case of Kamehn Schrader it took her friends to raise this possibility.
More...
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