Limelight Magazine is adding its voice to the other artists and arts organisations voting yes.

Limelight Magazine is adding its voice to the other artists and arts organisations voting yes.

The arts community is a very diverse one. People in same-sex relationships provide Australia with expression through all artforms. We also have many journalists working for Limelight who are in same-sex relationships. Parents in our Limelight community have gender and sexuality diverse kids, and others in our community have same-sex attracted parents or have grown up with same-sex parents.

Our stages are graced by great artists in couples who are unable to marry because of the legal status quo.

We support them.

Historically, same-sex attracted artists are found throughout the arts, and contemporary Australia is no exception.

The arts community also includes people who hold dear the teachings of religious texts, whether they be the Bible (old and new), the Qur’an, the Tripitaka, the Torah or the Book of Mormon. Indeed, western classical music as we know it stemmed from the generosity and encouragement of the church. We have the understanding that secular law and religious belief are separate. The survey on marriage law is a secular question.

There are also those of the arts community who have a strong resistance to change. This is thoroughly understandable, given what we, as a community, have been through; particularly over the past couple of decades with technology, funding and global politics. However, the status quo is so uncomfortable for queer members of our wider community that change is needed for their well-being. The change being proposed affects wider society as we become more inclusive and supportive of all members of our community, not just those that fit historically ‘regular’ archetypes. We believe it is responsible to understand and engage with the reality – our community is diverse; our friends, colleagues, children and parents may not have the same desires or beliefs as us, but we don’t have the right to prevent their full actualisation (to pull out a bit of Maslow).

John Cage: “I can’t understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I’m frightened of the old ones.”

Richard Wagner: “Imagination creates reality.”

Limelight Magazine: “We imagine a loving, inclusive community, so let’s make it our reality.”

The Limelight team


 

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