Social Ventures Australia is proud to support the campaign for marriage equality. The following letter has been shared with the Equality Campaign website as a public statement of our support. For more information on the campaign or to register your support visit equalitycampaign.org.au.
We, Social Ventures Australia (SVA), write to express our organisation’s support for marriage equality.
SVA works to improve the lives of people in need. As an organisation we currently prioritise our work in education, employment, housing and with First Australians.
Even though there is an increasing acceptance of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LGBTQI) people in society and greater visibility in the media and public life, many LGBTQI people still experience discrimination, harassment and violence at work, school and in social situations. The LGBTQI community is significantly and negatively impacted and often experiences disadvantage as a result.
SVA encourages diversity in our workforce and in the community. All of our staff, whatever their life experiences and backgrounds, have a significant part to play in helping us work with partners to serve communities and people in need. Our staff from the LGBTQI community are no exception. We will continue to support all our staff in whatever marriage choices they make in the future.
We recognise and support the right of our LGBTQI clients, volunteers, partners and community members to live and work free of prejudice and discrimination. This includes the right to marry the partner of their choice.
Globally, over twenty countries have passed laws to allow same sex marriage, including countries that are culturally similar to ours like New Zealand, the United States of America, Canada, and Great Britain. These countries did so with lower support for marriage equality than Australia is seeing right now.
On May 22nd 2015, the Republic of Ireland held a referendum to sanction same sex marriage. A Yes vote was supported by the Government, all major political parties and the voters themselves.
On June 26th 2015, the U.S. Supreme court returned a judgement in favour of legalising same sex marriage across all 50 states.
These two events see Australia isolated among countries with English as a first language.
Not only is marriage equality the right thing to do, it also helps improve workplaces and service delivery by allowing everyone to be treated with equal respect and to feel included. We therefore support marriage equality.
Sincerely,
Rob Koczkar
Chief Executive Officer
Paul Robertson
Chair
