In Queensland, Parental Recognition was passed into legislation in 2008. This was a real win. Parental recognition and surrogacy legislation was finally passed after a long campaign. This was a state issue. The primary campaign of PFLAG involved 78 photos of a baby of two lesbians, that I sent to each MP in Qld. Every week, I sent a letter to the MPs describing how stressed either he or his parents were over the fact that he could be taken from the non-biological mother should his birth mother die or become incapacitated.
However, I believe the letter that had the most impact was the Christmas letter. In this one I wish the MPs Merry Christmas and describe the joy they had within the security of a loving family, where the family of the baby and others in a similar situation were stressed and not as relaxed as they would have liked, through fear of disgruntled family taking the child or children from the non-biological parent.
One day I was meeting with some Qld MPs about another issue, and I was beginning to feel stale on ideas. So, I asked a National MP I was meeting with, which campaign had the most impact on him? He thought for a moment and said “I was once sent a photo of a baby, and I left the photo sitting on my desk for weeks. But I had to put it away…….” In one sense, I was very happy that it was my campaign but disappointed that his answer wasn’t helpful to me at the time.
The cost of a campaign can be irrelevant. This campaign only cost the interest, the price of 78 copies of the original photo of the baby, and time to write a letter each week and email it to the MPs. However, TV adverts cost up to $100,000.
Panic Defence
In 2017, Panic Defence was eliminated as an excuse to murder a gay male in Queensland. This terrible loophole in the law came to a head when Father Kelly from Maryborough objected to two straight men being found innocent of murdering a gay man or supposed gay man.
In 2012 a committee was formed which was headed by Justice Jarred, who within minutes of being at the meeting decided that legislative changes to address this loophole were unnecessary. The first problem I saw was everyone on the committee was straight, whether this was deliberate or not, I can’t be sure.
I feel that I was the token person from the LGBTQIA+ community. And, being an older woman, they thought I would remain quiet when it was suggested nothing need be done about the legislative changes to this crappy loophole in the law.
I say this because I was the only person from an LGBTQIA+ organisation seated at the table. There were several lawyers, Anti-Discrimination Commission Qld (ADCQ) Commissioner, a representative from Victims of Crime and a person from Sisters Inside and no out-LGBTQIA+ person at the table.
As mentioned earlier, the chairperson, within a few minutes of arriving suggested, the whole process was unnecessary and worse still everyone was agreeable to this, except me.
I wasn’t popular at all, but it was too important to me to it let go. My theory was, no one was ever going to have the opportunity to murder my son and get away with it.
We made no headway during the first meeting. As the meeting was closing the chairperson asked that we all write a submission, but again I was the only person who bothered. However, by the end of the second meeting, I had managed to get people to change their mind and so it was then decided this terrible piece of legislation be removed as an excuse for murder.
Unfortunately, Anna Bligh the Premier who initiated this change was voted out and Campbell Newman was elected. Nothing was done during his term, but three years later, when Annastacia Palaszczuk was elected, she ensured the legislative changes were made.
In the attached letter is my argument for repealing such legislation – click here to read the full document.
LGBTI Legal Service in Queensland
I was on the steering committee of the LGBTI Legal Service. It was a service that was badly needed in the community. This was at a time when rights were still an issue, and many suffered varieties of discrimination. Worse still, many had minimum funds to get the wrongs righted. Within a couple of years, it was set to go, but needed a financial push, so I took some of the money Don had given me to make them a valid organisation and financially secure.
