As we all gathered, beneath a grey Melbourne sky, the energy was palpable with a feeling of ‘maybe this time’ in the air.

On Saturday, the steps of the State Library filled once again, to show the government that Australians’ are serious about the need for change, once again! With rally’s happening in other major cities on the day, Melbourne’s 1200 people seemed to be loud enough for at least twice that number. MCed by Tracy Bartram and with speakers from University, Lobby groups, and politicians who do show their support to repeal the law that was put in place by the Howard government 7 years ago this week, the crowd cheered on.

Julia Gillard was called upon to stand up and make things right. Since the marriage act was changed 7 years ago by the Howard government to include the words ‘between and man and a woman’ the LGBTIQ community and their supporters have been fighting for the right for recognition of same sex unions. It’s not about the religious aspect of ‘getting married’ for the community, it’s about the recognition of the all legal rights that go along with it that Equal Love supporters are looking for.

In an interview after the rally, Tracy Bartram was quoted as saying, if there was a law saying redheads couldn’t marry tomorrow, then the PM might have something to say about that. In fact now, with openly gay politicians (Bob Brown/Adam Bandt/Penny Wong) and one of them announcing last week that her partner was expecting their first child, well, it’s about time that the laws of this country reflected majority of the public opinion on the matter. Media outlets state that somewhere in the vicinity of 75% of Australian public would be happy to share the right to marry with same sex couples.

So why hasn’t the law changed. In his speech on Saturday Adam Bandt told the crowd of a unionist who said his ‘people’ would not be supportive of same sex unions, the fact is that that man was the head of the shopfitters union, membership includes hairdressers, and retail salespeople. This was a clear indication of the people’s voice not being represented. The greens, have secured debate time in Parliament in the coming months solely on this issue of Same sex marriage. Bandt asked all people to send a clear message to you federal parliamentarian that it’s time for change. Write a letter, send an email, it’s as easy as following this link to the AEC website putting in your postcode and sending an email to the name on the top of the page!

Under the law, a politician MUST acknowledge each and every written contact made to them, I have written to my Polie on the matter ... how about you?!