Young Labour

Following United States President Barack Obama’s statement on ABC News endorsing the expansion of the right to marriage to gay and lesbian couples, Labour’s youth sector is calling on the leaders of New Zealand’s parliament to draw a line in the sand and adopt Young Labour’s stance in establishing marriage equality and amending the Adoption Act to include same sex couples.

“Obama’s strong and brave commitment to equality and fairness for LGBT rights is something New Zealand’s political leaders could learn from. Young Labour earlier this year decided that achieving marriage equality for all New Zealanders is our number one priority”, Young Labour’s Rainbow Representative Sam Thompson was quoted as saying this morning. “Our Prime Minister has stated that he will not ‘roll back’ any of the gains made for lesbian, gay, bi- and transsexual, queer and intersex couples. That’s not enough. Barack Obama has endorsed marriage equality, now it’s time for you to step up and do the same.” (more…)

Young Labour is condemning sexist assertions made by Alasdair Thompson of the Employers and Manufacturers Association that women should be paid less than men because of biological differences.

“Mr Thompson’s suggestion that women are paid less because they menstruate – and that this is fair – is outrageous,” Young Labour President Ella Hardy says. (more…)

Young Labour is calling for the cancellation of all government funding being granted to Destiny Church.

Young Labour President Ella Hardy, and Sam Thompson, Young Labour’s Rainbow Representative, say their organisation is appalled by revelations this week from Social Development Minister Paula Bennett that Te Runanga a Iwi o Te Oranga Ake “the social services arm of homophobic Destiny Church” has received $860,000 in taxpayer money. (more…)

In their hilarious response to Young Labour’s identification of a ludicrous mistake in Maxim’s recent bulletin (which argued that a lack of complaints to the Human Rights Commission meant that the law contained no discrimination that mattered), the “Society for the Promotion of Community Standards” have publicly identified their link with the Maxim Institute.

They state (6 July 2004, “Response to Young Labour President”):

“The Maxim Real Issues Report was based on a response from the Human Rights Commission to an Official Information Request, lodged by the Society, and supplied to Maxim and many other organisations.” (more…)

“Young Labour is today launching our second campaign of the year: ‘Stand Up and Join the Fight – Support the Civil Union Bill’,” said Young Labour President, Michael Wood.

“This campaign is focused on encouraging MPs and the public to support the Civil Union Bill. Love doesn’t discriminate and neither should the law,” he continued.

“In this day and age it is ridiculous that gay and lesbian couples cannot formally recognise their relationships and access all the benefits and responsibilities that flow from this. (more…)

Young Labour today expressed their deep disappointment at McDonalds franchise ban on the “Tearaway” youth magazine, imposed after the magazine featured an article on lesbian and gay youth, and on Wednesday will hold a “kiss-in” at the McDonalds Head Office (61 Wellington St Freemans Bay)in Auckland as a form of protest.

“Young People today understand that different sexualities are an important and valid party of New Zealand society,” Young Labour President Michael Wood said.

“Young people questioning their sexuality have a right to basic health and support. McDonald’s attempt to ban such information from their shops shows how out of touch they are with New Zealand youth,” Young Labour Rainbow (Gay and Lesbian) Representative, Tony Milne said. (more…)

Young Labour President Michael Wallmannsberger described today’s decision by the Human Rights Commission and the subsequent dropping of the scheme by the policy as a victory for human rights in New Zealand.

The Human Rights Commission concluded that the Under-25 sticker scheme was lawful only because of the Government’s current exemption from the provision of the Human Rights Act.

“Today’s decision is a victory for the organisations and individuals that have spoken out against this scheme,” said Mr Wallmannsberger. (more…)

Young Labour President Moana Mackey, continuing with a series of comments on negative areas of discrimination against young people, has stepped into the fray over Christchurch’s “Under-25 scheme” targeting young people driving cars in the city.

“The scheme is supposedly designed to cut car theft rates in the Christchurch area. In fact, what it does is legitimate discrimination against a given group of people, in this case young people, based solely on their age,” said Moana Mackey today.

“Discrimination is a slippery slope, and trends towards it should be stopped whenever possible. It’s simply an easy way out to blame young people for car thefts. It would be more useful for those in support of this scheme to reflect on why young people are often driven to crime. Gerry Brownlee for example (National MP for Ilam) said on Monday that concerns over the scheme were “alarmist… excessively politically correct statements” (Christchurch Press, 13 March). (more…)

Two recent media releases by the Christian Heritage Party leader Graham Capill have outraged Young Labour members around the country, said Young Labour President Moana Mackey today.

“Releases with titles like “Queer As Folk should be banned” and “Wrong to open door to lesbian fostering” simply show how bigoted and out of touch Graham Capill really is. Why he thinks that people should be discriminated against for this reason, or why views showing an entirely different lifestyle to his own should be banned, is quite beyond my understanding.

“Capill’s implication appears to be that gays and lesbians are somehow evil or immoral. Young Labour entirely rejects that view. The idea of a so-called Christian party perpetuating such homophobic and bigoted views makes us sick. Protecting the innocent is quite different to trying to enforce your own fundamentalist morality,” Moana Mackey said. (more…)