The Yes Alliance: Multicultural Australians for Marriage Equality

THE YES ALLIANCE

Multicultural Australians for Marriage Equality

Australia has an enviable record of fostering a diverse, open and welcoming society.

Together, we have built a place where people from every corner of the world can live and work side by side – a place where everyone can belong.

The YES Alliance is a group of Australians from faith and culturally diverse communities – that will be supporting a YES vote in the marriage equality postal survey.

Australians from migrant and faith backgrounds have often faced discrimination and
harassment based on race, skin colour, language, religious beliefs or cultural heritage.

LGBTI people are also in our communities, they are our friends and family members, and they can face discrimination on multiple fronts.

It’s never been more important for our communities to stand up for a more tolerant and
open society. A society that has equal rights for everyone. The postal survey will be an
opportunity to do that. That is why we must reaffirm our society’s shared values of –
freedom, fairness, equality before the law, respect for all and that discrimination is never acceptable – values that have shaped our success, and will underpin our future prosperity.

These are the values that unify us as a peaceful and prosperous society with a shared sense of belonging, respect, acceptance and contribution.

As the survey rolls out, we will engage with Australia’s multicultural and multifaith
communities and have difficult but important conversations about:

✓ why a YES vote is about equal rights
✓ why a YES vote is not a hindrance to religious freedoms or free speech
✓ why a YES vote will protect religious freedoms
✓ why a YES vote is about removing discrimination for all

We, the undersigned, pledge our support for marriage equality and to work with
multicultural and multifaith people to achieve a society where everyone is equal before the law.

For more information visit www.theyesalliance.com.au

Acceptance Melbourne LGBT Catholics
Aleph Melbourne
Arab Council Australia
Asian Australian Alliance
Australian GLBTIQ Multicultural Council Inc
Australasian Union of Jewish Students
Board of Directors of the Ethnic Communities’ Council of Victoria
Centre For Multicultural Youth
Chairperson of Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Councils of Australia
Chairperson of National Ethnic Disability Alliance
Christians for Marriage Equality
Colour Code
Democracy in Colour
Greek and Gay Support Network
Interfaith Centre of Melbourne
Jewish Lesbian Group of Victoria
LGBTI Latin and Hispanics in Australia
Multicultural Friends of Labor
Muslims for Marriage Equality
Muslims for Progressive Values – Australia
One World Family
Settlement Services International
Victorian Mental Illness Awareness Council
Weave Network
Welcome to Australia

[PDF: The YES Alliance Joint Statement 20092017]

Melbourne’s new GLBTIQ multicultural social support group

Exciting news from the Australian Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex and Queer Multicultural Council (AGMC Inc).

 

New Multicultural Social Support Group

The AGMC Inc. is pleased to announce the creation of a new Multicultural Social Support Group. This group has been established to fill a void that has existed for many years in communities that are not represented by individual cultural groups.

In Melbourne today we have cultures that are strongly represented by existing groups. The Greek, Italian, Latin, Asian, Maltese, Muslim and Jewish communities are currently represented by existing groups however as far as we are aware, there is nothing or very little in the form of a group for many cultures.

This new group has been established primarily for the cultures that have no options of support when seeking support from others in the same or similar culture. The idea of establishing this group came about as we have been approached by many people who are looking for this avenue for themselves. We now invite all those individuals and anyone else that identifies as Multicultural and GLBTIQ to come along to our inaugural meeting and tell us what your needs are and how we can help. Come and meet like minded individuals who have similar concerns and interests as you. Make new friends and establish new networks.

We thank all those that have prompted us to establish this new group and we hope that many find it a useful outlet and that over time we can assist in the creation of new multicultural social/support groups in Melbourne and beyond. We also thank the VAC for their support of this group.

The intention is to hold the meetings on the first Monday of each month. Details of the first meeting are as follows:

Date:         Monday 5th September 2011
Time:        7.30pm to 9.30pm
Location:   VAC/GMHC – 6 Claremont Street, South Yarra
For further information please call 0466-340-412 or email contact@agmc.org.au