GALE is WA’s peak human rights lobby group for GLBTI people. Our aim is to achieve equality for all people irrespective of sexual orientation or gender identity. We work towards this goal by lobbying government, political parties and businesses to adopt policies and procedures to provide equal status and treatment for GLBTI people in both the public and private sector. We also aim to educate our own community as to their legal rights and the mechanisms by which they can protect their own human rights as well as their relationships and families from discrimination.
We have existed under our current name for more than a decade, but GALE’s foundation can be traced back through other organisations like COLAGE (Coalition for Lesbian and Gay Equality), Stonewall Union of Students, and much earlier, the Campaign Against Moral Persecution (CAMP). Indeed, some of our long-time members were members of CAMP in the 1970s.
GALE welcomes all people with an interest in their human rights and legal rights and responsibilities to join our organisation or participate in our events. We especially welcome women to become involved with GALE, as in our experience threats to our state’s law reforms in the past have specifically targeted those rights associated primarily with lesbians – like attacks on the adoption, IVF and human reproductive technology rights in our laws.
Our strength comes from the people who volunteer in a wide range of roles – ranging from defending the GLBTI community in the media, to organising events and protest actions, to conducting community awareness campaigns.ÂÂ
GALE’s next major milestone will be the welcoming of the report into federal government discrimination against same-sex couples to be released by HREOC in late June 2007. We expect that there will be many opportunities for GLBTI people to talk up the fact that they are still discriminated against in federal law. We also plan to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the enactment of our law reforms on Friday 21 September 2007.ÂÂ
Stay tuned for more details.
Rod Swift, Convenor, GALE WA
Interested in more information?
- Web: www.galewa.asn.au
- email: info@galewa.asn.au
- Post: PO Box 420, Northbridge, WA, 6865
- Phone: 08 9487 0862 or 0417 890 111