Australian gay marriage campaigners are faxing their MPs
It may be 2017, but sometimes the old tactics still work best.
At least that’s what marriage equality campaigners in Australia are hoping anyway.
The Equality Campaign, one of the leading campaigns for same-sex marriage down under, have launched a new push to get people faxing – yes faxing – their MPs.
Tiernan Brady, director of the group, said they’d chosen the “old school” method to try and make people’s messages more personal.
Explaining to BuzzFeed why bulk emails and petitions don’t work he added: “What works is when people tell their personal stories. We wanted to find a mechanism that would allow people to do that.
“Not everyone can take time off work to go to an electoral office.”
All Australian MPs have fax machine in their offices, with the numbers easily available on the Government website.
The group is also offering to fax stories on behalf of constituents, with a form on site to submit message to be faxed.
“Introduce yourself,” they group say in their guidelines. “Tell them who you are and where you’re from. It’s so important our politicians know this fax is from a local voter.
“Tell your own story about why this matters to you.”
It’s time for politicians to do their jobs. It’s only fair. Take action in biggest #MarriageEquality campaign yet: https://t.co/vXQ0ZyVwxz pic.twitter.com/PoqH2TLVM2
— AU Marriage Equality (@AMEquality) February 5, 2017
Same sex couples in Australia are currently unable to get married, with campaigners pushing for a free vote in parliament.
Current Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has said the law can only be changed through a plebiscite or referendum.
However, a plebiscite means $7.5 million dollars would be given to anti-gay marriage campaigners, and many LGBT activists are concerned about the trauma of a divisive campaign.
It is believed that if Turnbull dropped the plebiscite and went through with a parliament vote, then same-sex marriage would most likely become legal.
