MOMENTUM for same sex marriage equality is building in the Hume electorate.
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That’s according to Hume Supports Marriage Equality spokesperson Tom Sebo.
The group officially launched its regional campaign at the Goulburn Club on Friday night, welcoming 70 supporters and guests from as far as Cootamundra, Sydney and Yass.
“Realistically it couldn’t have gone any better… It was a really intimate gathering and there was a lot of engagement. The real feeling in the room at the end of it was that people wanted to get active,” Mr Sebo said.
“We had a really diverse range of audience members, not only between gay and straight people but ideologically too. We had people who were rather conservative, people who were lefties and people who were relatively apolitical on other matters.”
Among them were two of Australia’s leading equality advocates Rodney Croome and Alex Greenwich. Mr Croome founded Australian Marriage Equality (AME) in 2004 and now sits as director.
Mr Greenwich, a NSW Independent Member for Sydney, is a co-chair of AME.
Both featured as speakers at Friday night’s event.
“From what they know and their meetings with him at Australian Marriage Equality, Angus Taylor really is on the fence about what’s going to happen, he is undecided,” Mr Sebo said.
“The point they made is it’s more than a numbers game, it’s more than saying we can get this number of people on our side, realistically MPs have hearts and that’s it. You want to be able to tell him your story if you support it, if you’ve got a personal story about the topic make it known - call him up and let him know.”
From here, the advocacy group will pound the pavement in search of supporters to sign a petition. The benchmark has been set, with 100 signatures collected in the first day of circulation.
Mr Sebo said focus will also be placed on branching out to communities in the wider electorate.
“We want to start reaching out to people in other communities to set up branches there and really galvanise this effort across what is essentially a very big electorate,” he said.
“My main hope is that in the days and weeks to come that Angus Taylor continues to keep an open mind about it and continues to engage with the community and I hope the community continues to engage with him. Ultimately his vote is what we need.”
Building business support
AUSTRALIAN Marriage Equality will continue to work in partnership with Hume Supports Marriage Equality throughout the campaign, Mr Sebo confirmed.
Over the weekend, a training session for interested volunteers, hosted by AME, was well received. Now, campaign focus will shift to attracting local businesses.
“We’re going to be working with local businesses who support marriage equality. We are essentially going to be paying for an ad to go in the local newspapers for anyone who wants to advertise their support,” Mr Sebo explained.
“If you want your logo included in the ad, and if you want it known that you support it, let us know. It’s a bit of free advertising here for people if they support it. If you’re a business that supports equality it’s a great opportunity.
“It’s an AME strategy but the great thing about it is that nationally and internationally look at the companies that have done it; it’s Google, it’s Apple, it’s ANZ, it’s McDonald’s. The biggest companies in the world have all thrown their support behind it and it hasn’t affected their bottom line one iota.”
To get in contact with Hume Supports Marriage Equality find them on Facebook, or, you can email marriageequalityforhume@ gmail.com.