Send a rose to Tony on Valentine’s Day

GetUp! and Australian Marriage Equality (AME) are marking Valentine’s Day and the beginning of GetUp!’s second year of involvement in the marriage equality offensive with a new advertising drive and a campaign targeting Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Opposition leader Tony Abbott.

GetUp! supporters will donate money to send a red rose to their local MPs. For each rose sent, AME will send one to Gillard and Abbott.

In GetUp!’s first year of involvement in the campaign, they collected more than 150,000 petition signatures in favour of marriage equality and produced the “It’s Time” video which has been seen by more than five million people.

Meanwhile AME has called on parliamentary supporters to work together following the announcement that Greens MP Adam Bandt and Tasmanian independent MP Andrew Wilkie will introduce their marriage equality bill ahead of that of Labor MP Stephen Jones.

AME national convenor Alex Greenwich said reform would not be achieved unless parliamentary supporters work together.

“No single party has the capacity to achieve reform, so we hope people from all sides of politics, including the Coalition, can work together in a strategic and effective way to deliver a reform that a majority of Australians want,” Greenwich said.

“We welcome the commitment to marriage equality from Andrew Wilkie, the Greens, and ALP members like Stephen Jones, and we call on them all to work cooperatively to achieve reform.”

Advocates have called for all existing bills to be submitted to the multi-party Senate inquiry into same-sex marriage which was established on February 8 without opposition from either of the major parties.

Greenwich said having all bills go before the inquiry would ensure the best possible marriage equality bill is presented to Parliament.

“The many Australian couples and families who are disadvantaged by exclusion from marriage deserve the best possible chance of seeing that exclusion ended,” he said.

“The Senate inquiry will help address some of the outstanding concerns of Coalition MPs such as how we can guarantee religious freedoms and ensure marriage remains a strong and relevant institution in Australian society.

“All Australians who believe in fairness, equality, and the true meaning of marriage can now have their voices heard through the inquiry process”.

INFO: To send a rose to your MP, the Prime Minister and Tony Abbott, visit www.getup.org.au/campaigns/marriage-equality/valentines-day/send-a-rose