GetUp!
GetUp!

Can you fund the love?

Thank you for helping make such a noise today, and for committing to chipping in to help us cover the cost – together we're making sure the campaign for marriage equality only gets louder, prouder and more effective!

As you saw and felt today, rallies are an amazing way to campaign – they make headlines, bring people together, and create a real sense of urgency and excitement. But they're not free, and neither are a lot of the other crucial tactics we have planned for the campaign to see end marriage discrimination over by Christmas.

Will you help us fund the fight for equal marriage?

It's crunch time.

In August, Liberal MPs Warren Entsch and Teresa Gambaro will put a co-sponsored private members bill for marriage equality before parliament,1 but whether it can be debated will hinge on whether Prime Minister Tony Abbott allows his party a conscience vote – and whether it passes depends on whether all our MPs, whatever their side of politics, are on the right side of history.2 We have six weeks to shift the position of key MPs and create enough division within the party to force a conscience vote -- just six weeks to capture the momentum of a decades-long campaign and to finally end marriage discrimination. Can you help us make this happen?

When the news broke last Friday night that marriage equality is now legal across the United States, people cried tears of joy on the streets of America, with the knowledge that all love is now finally equal in the eyes of the law.

With headlines like this, it's easy to assume that marriage equality just has to pass this year. But the conservative pundits are right – assuming marriage equality is inevitable would be a huge mistake.3

We're at a make or break moment for marriage equality. We could win this thing in the next 6 and a half weeks, or anti-equality voices could take out this round, leaving us waiting for another five, ten, fifteen years for the political will and public energy to build back up to the fever pitch it is now. We don't want to still be fighting for equal marriage in fifteen years time.

That's why we need to gear up to push this thing past the tipping point, once and for all, by convincing Liberal politicians to support a free vote, and to use that vote to pass equal marriage. But to do that, we need your help. GetUp members have already stepped up the campaign in the last few weeks – hitting the streets at rallies, calling and emailing their MP, and organising grassroots electorate visits to ramp up the pressure at a local level.

Can you imagine how much further we can escalate this campaign if all of us chip in what we can?

Let's look back on this historic opportunity with pride.

This is what we could do with your help:

The more we raise, the more of these tactics we can pull off, and the more effective the campaign will be!


GetUp members in the electorate of Wills presenting their MP with a Love In Your Electorate report - 5 June 2015

Our best bet at directly influencing the 15 MPs who we believe might switch their vote on marriage equality is by targeting them in their electorates while they're back home over the winter break. Already, GetUp members have mobilised in the electorates of Solomon and Wills – both the MPs of these electorates have since changed their vote and announced their support for equal marriage! Your contribution can help power these electorate visits, all over the country, right where they're most needed.
If we raise enough, we can start printing posters and putting them up all over key electorates, so that everyone knows to get in touch with MPs who are yet to announce their support
You could help pay for commissioning professional polling to show on-the-fence MPs just how overwhelming the support for marriage equality is in their electorate
Did you enjoy the rally in Perth? Help spread the love!

Your donation could help cover the costs to hold marriage equality rallies in capital cites around Australia, to keep attention on the campaign in the media, spread the excitement through the community, and sustain pressure for a Liberal party free vote on the bill

This is what GetUp members have already made possible:


A headline after polling was commissioned in 2014

Polling is an excellent way to demonstrate tangible, hard facts about public support for issues. So far, polling has been done nation-wide, but to show our target MPs the evidence that their specific electorate supports equal marriage, we'll need to commission polling at a local level. Numbers can be really powerful, and could be the reason a target MP understands their electorate want them to vote in favour of the reform. Polling can be expensive, so we need the help of as many people as possible to maximise the amount of electorates we can poll – can you chip in?
References
[1] 'Same-sex marriage: Coalition MPs Warren Entsch, Teresa Gambaro to co-sponsor private member's bill', ABC news, 2nd July 2015
[2]'Tony Abbott to defy unity push on same sex marriage', The Australian, 2nd July 2015
[3]'Pray for Clive to save marriage, Christian group urges', Sunshine Coast Daily, 4th June 2015

Love In Canberra rally for marriage equality – 21 June 2015

In the past 4 weeks, working with our friends at Australian Marriage Equality, GetUp members have hit the streets to call for equal marriage rights and a Liberal free vote on marriage equality before the end of the year – we want to keep this up and take the Love In Your Capital City events to every capital city! Rallies are a great way of keeping the attention of the media and our politicians on the issue, so it's not pushed aside over the winter Parliamentary break.