Talk:Bob Brown

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"Resigns" as Greens leader

The word "Resigns" as the Greens leader appears to be a rude gesture at his resignation - rather than say "Resigned" as the Greens leader as a fact of the past, just wondering why we are using that present active tense 132.234.228.133 (talk) 11:39, 19 July 2021 (UTC)

I don't see anything rude in that wording, but I do see clumsiness. I have changed it. Thanks for raising this here. HiLo48 (talk) 11:46, 19 July 2021 (UTC)

First openly gay leader of an Australian political party

Template:Ping The statement in the lead that Brown was the first openly gay leader of an Australian political party is unsourced. While a quick google search shows many sources do actually say that in passing, this one attributes the title to Brian Greig, explicitly stating that although Bob Brown preceded him, "the Greens do not have the required five elected members to let Bob Brown" take the title: [1]. I'm not familiar with how many elected members a party needs to have a formal leader or how that technicality works, I'm just pointing out what the source says. Also apologies; Brown was the first openly gay senator. I conflated my sources on Grieg, who was the first openly gay politician and the first senator to campaign for LGBT rights. Damien Linnane (talk) 01:35, 9 August 2021 (UTC)

Greig isn't the first openly gay politician (not sure that it's Brown off the top of my head, but it would've been while Greig was still in high school) and the claim that he was the first senator to campaign for LGBT rights is almost certainly wrong too (I find it hard to believe Brown never "campaigned" prior to 1999, especially with Tasmania a flashpoint for much of the '90s). The Star Observer article is basically wrong; although there are funding rules triggered by having a certain number of MPs, that doesn't mean smaller parties don't have leaders. No one would have, for example, argued that Lyn Allison was never leader of the Democrats because the party had hit the skids by the time she took over the leadership.

Greig might be the first party leader by virtue of the fact that the issue of whether the Greens had a formal leader prior to 2005 (when the Greens established more clearly a federal party) is a bit murky. I don't actually know if he was considered, formally, leader of the Greens in the 90s, prior to state parties like WA entering the Australian Greens fold. It's a question that needs thoroughly resolving anyway, because the lead section's claim that he led the AG from his election is very possibly wrong. The Drover's Wife (talk) 02:41, 9 August 2021 (UTC)

Thanks for pointing all that out; I wouldn't be surprised if the sources on the matter did indeed get somethign wrong. To clarify, the source used at Greig's article states his maiden senator speech was the first time a federal politician had spoken so strongly in favour of LGBT rights, but I guess what constitutes 'strong' campaigning is subjective. Anyway I'm happy for this article to stay as is at present as it all seems a bit grey, but yes, its probably something the regular editors of this page need to sort out. Damien Linnane (talk) 03:04, 9 August 2021 (UTC)

Template:Ping - for the record, AuQA just answered that question about the first out politician. It was Ralph McLean in 1982. The Drover's Wife (talk) 22:29, 10 August 2021 (UTC)