I want to see the Labor Party take up its rightful place as the champion of just and progressive values.

Dear Dr. Andrew Leigh MP,

Two weeks ago I sat in a room at the Labor Women’s Conference listening to wizened baby-boomers lament the loss of young people from the party to organizations such as GetUp. How could it be? they asked, throwing solutions such as ‘getting onto Facebook’ into the mix as though young people simply sat around waiting to be plugged in and told what is happening. The truth is, the things young people care about are not being addressed by their representatives. 

Upon arriving in Canberrra over four years ago, a Labor-member friend of mine said in an off-hand way, “only the Labor party will allow same-sex marriage”, but after sitting through meeting after meeting of Labor MPs and Senators crowing that they were doing all they could behind the scenes, I was no longer sure. On numerous occasions, I declined joining a party that supported the status quo: institutionalized discrimination on the basis of sexuality.

I didn’t want to write a letter that talked about my sexuality, or the sexuality of people I know because I could not begin to imagine what it is like to live in a country that does not allow one to participate fully simply because of their sexuality.

Dr. Leigh, you are a supporter of reforms in this area however, many in your party are not. I ask you as a member of your electorate, as a young person and as someone who wants to see the Labor Party take up its rightful place as the champion of just and progressive values, to be that member that does not simply ‘work behind the scenes’, but stands up against what is a disgusting remnant of times gone by. I ask you to strongly support same-sex marriage at the upcoming party conference and that any ‘behind the scenes’ work is in actively convincing your colleagues to do the same. 

Yours sincerely,

Courtney Sloane