Swinburne comes out for marriage equality
In Summary
Swinburne University of Technology today became the first Australian university to declare its support for marriage equality in Australia.
In so doing, Swinburne joins hundreds of Australian corporate and not-for-profit organisations who have joined the call for marriage equality.
In an open letter published today on the Australians for Marriage Equality website, the university has written:
Swinburne University of Technology writes to express its support for Marriage Equality.
Respect for diversity is one of our university’s core values and it guides everything that we do. We recognise that diversity increases the effectiveness of teams and the capacity for innovation. Workplaces which are characterised by respect for diversity are more productive.
We recognise the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ) students and staff to live and work free of prejudice and discrimination.
We have a deep and abiding commitment to working with LGBTIQ students and staff to ensure that we are supporting our people and saying no to prejudice, hatred, discrimination and abuse wherever it exists.
We support the right for all our students and staff to have equal opportunities in life. This should extend to the right for people to marry whomever they choose to marry.
If two people love each other and wish to commit to a life together, they should have the option to be recognised equally under the law.
For these reasons, we support marriage equality.
Swinburne joins major Australian corporates ANZ, Optus, Qantas, PWC, Westpac, KPMG, David Jones, Seek, Virgin and Foxtel – and many others – in supporting marriage equality.
We congratulate these major employers of Swinburne graduates on their decision to take a stand for marriage equality and for supporting the removal of this form of discrimination.
Swinburne has been recognised by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency as an Employer of Choice for Gender Equality and supports LGBTIQ students and staff through its Pride @ Swinburne initiative.