Australia’s First Openly Gay Indigenous Man Elected To Parliament

"I am young, I am gay, I am black...I own it and wear it with pride."

From: NewNowNext

 Earlier this week, newly elected parliamentarian Chansey Paech delivered an impassioned speech at the opening of the 13th Parliament of the Northern Territory in Australia in which he celebrated his identity as a proud gay Indigenous man.

 “Madam Speaker, I am young, I am gay, I am black, a true blue Territorian,” began the 28-year-old Labor MLA.

“I am a Centralian man,” he continued. “I am the nation’s first openly gay Indigenous parliamentarian. I am eternally proud of who I am and where I come from. I own it and wear it with pride.”

Paech went on to use his new position to advocate for marriage equality, an initiative Australian parliament continues to block.

“I look forward to the day when this country will recognize my rights as equal rights, when I too can marry in my country, on my country, as a recognized first Australian,” he concluded.

 In the recent Northern Territory election, Paech received nearly 60 percent of the vote in his electorate, the third largest in the NT.

During the election season, Paech was the victim of a vicious smear campaign that sought to use his sexuality against him. Supporters of Paech’s opposition believed that voters in the electorate’s remote Aboriginal communities would be less likely to vote for the candidate if they knew he was gay.

“That kind of language the electorate didn’t respond well to,’” Paech told BuzzFeed after winning his seat.

“The most beautiful thing was when I was at a remote community [campaigning] and people said to me, ‘They said you were a gay and we said we didn’t care, we just want houses.’”

Paech was one of six Indigenous politicians elected to the NT parliament and plans to fight for the rights of all disenfranchised Australians.

“I will stand proud with my Labor colleagues across our vast lands to ensure that all Territorians have equality and that we reach a time when our first Australians are constitutionally recognized,” he remarked.