This week a new political party is launching, and it aims to acheive equality for LGBTI Australians.
The Australian Equality Party (AEP) is Melbourne-based and aims to win its first senate seat in Victoria in the next federal election. From there, the party plans to campaign at local, state and federal levels in the hope of ending discrimination for Australia’s queer community.
The Party will be launched at the 2014 Melbourne Pride Parade on Sunday. AEP Convenor and potential Senate candidate Jason Tuazon-McCheyne had this to say:
According to the party’s constitution, the purpose of the AEP is to “provide gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (GLBTIQ) people and their families with a political voice.”
Specifically, the party will be campaigning for marriage equality, the removal of religious exemptions from anti-discrimination laws for publicly funded organisations, government funding for mental health and suicide prevention in the GLBTIQ community, representation of the queer community within the education system, and challenging homophobia wherever it exists.
More information is available at their website.