Wednesday, January 16, 2013

[Australia] - GLBTI Representative to Meet with Minister Jenny Macklin Next Week - What would you like to ask her?


As you may recall, late last year many of you participated in the OurSay vote for arranging a meeting with Minister Jenny Macklin. We WON the vote and secured a meeting with Minister Macklin in Melbourne next week.

The meeting is now scheduled for next Wednesday. To remind you of the question which you voted for and we won with:

“Despite the 84 amendments to Commonwealth law that passed through parliament in 2008 there are are still many areas where families with same-sex attracted parents encounter barriers, including legal parentage, access to inclusive services, marriage equality and education. How are you working to ensure that children with gay, lesbian, bisexual, intersex or transgendered parents are treated equally and equitably across all government policies?”

Dr Simon Crouch (gay dad with twins via surrogacy, lead researcher on the ACHESS (www.achess.org.au) project, super smart, passionate and genuinely a very, very nice guy!) is going to be representing GLBTI parents and families in the meeting.

Simon and I would like to ask people for let us know what GLBTI parenting/family questions and/or issues you would like Simon to raise with Minister Macklin. This is a great opportunity to get our voices and concerns heard (at least) by a senior member of the Federal government.

Your issues/questions may relate to

(a) legal recognition of gay male parents in overseas surrogacy arrangements
(b) anti-discimination legislation (topically due to the review of Federal legislation)
(c) centerlink treatment, recognition, payments re GLBTI parents/families
(d) issues with fostercare arrangements for GLBTI families
(e) ANY THING ELSE that you think is relevant from a GLBTI perspective.

Please get your responses in quickly as Simon will need time to review and prepare for the meeting.

Send responses to rodneycruise@gmail.com and I will coordinate them.

Cheers
Rodney Chiang-Cruise

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