Nicole Hilder, Wollongong
On September 24, 200 people attended a feisty meet-the-candidates forum on "family values", held in the Wollongong mall.
Referred to by its critics as "the big day out for homophobes", the event was organised by Jeff Dakers, the Cunningham candidate for Fred Nile's Christian Democratic Party, in response to the same-sex marriage bill Greens MP Michael Organ introduced to parliament that was recently voted down by Labor and Coalition senators.
The majority of the crowd were from anti-homophobic groups including the AIDS Council of NSW, the Wollongong Women's Centre and the Allsorts Collective from the University of Wollongong.
Dakers' address consisted of long quotes from the Bible. Chris Williams, the Socialist Alliance candidate for Cunningham, told the meeting: "The Christian Democratic Party should remove 'Democratic' from its name. Denying the right of same sex-couples to adopt is exactly the same as denying Indigenous peoples and women the right to vote.
"The Liberal Party seeks to force reliance on the traditional family for social security as the Coalition hacks away at welfare, health and education.
"These attacks won't stop. Today it's same sex couples, tomorrow women's right to abortion, the day after 'no fault' divorce.
"Instead of bashing minorities, the government should be dealing with the real problems. For example they should immediately withdraw from the brutal and unjust occupation of Iraq."
Williams then called on all those present to maximise the opposition to homophobia by putting Jeff Dakers last on their ballot paper and kicking out the Howard government on October 9.
From Green Left Weekly, September 29, 2004.
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