The ‘yes’ campaign has already made history. Now we need to win the vote, and win by a lot! For those that don’t know (or aren’t in Australia) the Australian Government has decided that rather than just allow everyone to marry whomever they want they aren’t “able to make up their minds” either way on the issue have put it to the Australian public. They have done this in the form of a mail in vote, that we have called a plebiscite (lol).
Thousands joined Equal Love’s ‘YES’ rally Sunday October 1st, 2017 to demonstrate that the mass of people support equality and to remind those who have yet to vote ‘yes’ that it is imperative that they do.
Everyone registered on the electoral roll will have a ballot paper sent out to them by mid-September, and have until November 7 to return them. So, then why the rally if the plebiscite is all but over? Awareness. There are still thousands upon thousands who have yet to decide or send their votes in and hopefully rallies such as this put the plebiscite front of mind and they complete their mail-in vote.
I was lucky enough to be in the Melbourne CBD to capture the emotion as the rally made it’s way loudly down Swantson Street, turned at Flinders Street and paraded towards Treasury Gardens. I tried my best to capture the vibe and feeling of the crowd with my trusty Leica M9 and brand spanking new Leica Summarit-M 50mm lens with the forever handy Ricoh GR as my 28mm to round out the kit.
Additionally, the support for the ‘Yes’ vote was out in force with many fringe political parties jumping on board the issue to generate awareness for their various causes. It was a great turn out and they definitely achieved their goal of turning Swantson Street into a rainbow!
To get involved or attend the next rally scheduled for October 22nd please head over to the Equal Love Facebook page.
The entire set can be viewed on Flickr.
Categories: One Day & Random Rolls
JC Street 