STATEMENT FROM THE VCOSS BOARD: MARRIAGE EQUALITY

True love is elusive.

It’s difficult to define, hard to find and even harder to keep. So when two people find this most ephemeral of things in each other, we should all rejoice.

Neither their gender nor their sexuality should matter, for all love is equal. But Australia is currently being asked to make a choice. It’s a choice about who we are as a nation and what we value. Do we want to rejoice in the love of all couples equally? Or are we happy with laws deeming some unions more worthy and virtuous than others?

The Victorian Council of Social Service is an organisation guided by the principles of justice, equality and respect. Our central mission is to make people’s lives better.

For 70 years we have advocated for equal rights for all people, and the dismantling of discrimination wherever it occurs.

These core values continue to guide us today.

Our dedication to these values and our vision of a fairer and more just Victoria means VCOSS is a proud supporter of marriage equality in Australia.

We, the VCOSS board, support the ‘Yes’ campaign and urge all Australians to do the same.

We cannot claim to live in a truly fair, just or modern society so long as barriers to equal love are enshrined in our laws.

And we cannot support laws that foster discrimination, which push LGBTI people towards isolation, poverty and homelessness.

It’s time for the love of every Australian to be equal under the law, regardless of how they identify or who they love.

 

• Stella Avramopoulos, President
• Kim Sykes, Deputy President
• Simon Trivett, Treasurer
• David Brant
• Jason Davies-Kildea
• Bridget Gardner
• Professor David Hayward
• Lyn Morgain
• Caroline Mulcahy
• Tony Keenan
• Tony Lang