Gay rights activists take out full page ad in Courier Mail
The equality organisation Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) has taken out a full page ad in Queensland’s Courier Mail today.
The ad is an open letter to Queensland Premier Newman, asking him if he is aware of his ability to “destroy families,” signed by PFLAG national spokesperson Shelley Argent.
The ad refers to a conversation Argent must have with her son, telling him that he can no longer live in Queensland if he wants to live a life of equality and happiness as a gay man.
It’s not the first time that PFLAG has used mainstream media to broadcast its message.
Argent told Mumbrella PFLAG paid for the ad from private funds, saying: “We only run these kinds of ads when there’s a real need; they’re very expensive.”
The ad is to protest the state government’s reduction of the Civil Unions legislation to a “Relationships Register”, as well as the lack of action taken on the so-called “gay-panic” defence, which allows an alleged non-violent homosexual advance to be cited as a partial defence for murder or assault charges.
There have also been moves flagged by the government to change surrogacy laws so that same-sex couples and single men and women in Queensland are not be able to become parents.
I wish Shelley was my mum xxx
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Is the Courier Mail really a broadsheet, as the headline says?
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Excellent ad. I never knew PFLAG was a real organisation – outside of the film Reality Bites. “PFLAG. I’m beginning to like the sound of that.”
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FFS.. how can this still be required in 2012???
Grow up Australia, some people are gay. They should share EXACTLY the same rights as the some people who are not gay.
We think that the Americans and the gun situation is absurd..and yet we live in a country where some of the population are treated differently due to who they love.
Sometimes i just despair.
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Tim, wanna correct the link?
the courier mail is a tabloid; not queensland’s biggest broadsheet.
sorry for being petty.
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So sad that organisations have to go to these levels for people to act like humans… shame on Australia for being so old fashioned. I am embarrassed.
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by the way, good ad.
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If gay or lesbian couples are fit and proper people, they should be as much able to be parents as straight couples, who are also fit and proper people. Queensland law should reflect this reality, not move back into some nineteenth century timewarp.
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Hello gavin and the public,
You’re correct – Courier Mail is tabloid format.
Thanks – fixed.
Incidentally, don’t you think ‘gavin and the public’ would be a good name for a band?
Cathie – Mumbrella
Great advertisement!
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Well done Shelley. Can you be my mum too?
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And just to really highlight something wonderful about the Gay Panic defence, the Christian Democrats MLC Fred Nile will chair a parliamentary select committee set to review laws which allow people charged with murder to use the ‘gay panic’ defence.
Brilliant. The most bigoted, homophobic man in Australia is chairing the review of the validity of the Gay Panic defence.
Laughable. And embarrassing.
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What is wrong in Qld?
Can the government really nit understand all citizens must be treated equally?
Disgusting
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QLD is weird. Isn’t abortion pretty much illegal there too, unless it’s a threat to the woman’s health. Far out – it is like QLD is stuck in the early 1900’s. Great Ad!!
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