Rock Band To Fundraise For Marriage Equality At Margaret Court Arena

Icelandic rock band Sigur Rós has pledged their support for marriage equality in an open letter to Melbourne ahead of their show at Margaret Court Arena next month.

“Our fans and friends have made us aware of recent comments by Margaret Court regarding her opposition to Qantas’s support of same-sex marriage in Australia, and her wider views on race and sexuality,” the band said.

“We know Margaret Court’s opinions are not shared by the majority of Australians. We want to add our voice to the call for marriage equality in Australia – right here on Margaret Court Arena itself.

“Australia should be a country that celebrates positivity and inclusion, as well as achievement on the sporting field.”

Sigur Rós (pictured below) said they’ll sell a special t-shirt at their Melbourne show, with proceeds donated to The Equality Campaign.

“Let’s make July 27th Margaret Court Arena’s most inclusive night ever and call for every Australian to have the same dignity and respect right here on centre court,” the band wrote.

The Equality Campaign executive director Tiernan Brady said he was incredibly grateful for the band’s support.

“Their respectful words are based on their own firsthand experiences of how positive marriage equality is for society,” he said.

In Iceland, same-sex partnerships have been recognised since 1996 and in 2010 the country’s parliament legislated for marriage equality.

Former Icelandic prime minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir was the world’s first openly gay PM, and one of the first Icelanders to get married under the laws.

Read the band’s letter below:

dear melbourne & australia, since we formed sigur rós some twenty years ago, we have been lucky enough to visit australia seven times. we’re very much looking forward to our eighth visit this july. we are currently in the middle of our worldwide tour, playing more than 130 shows and visiting 39 countries. along the way we have played some of the world’s finest venues, and we’re finishing with a residence at the harpa concert hall in our home town of reykjavík, iceland at the end of this year. our next melbourne show is set to take place on july 27th at margaret court arena. our fans and friends have made us aware of recent comments by margaret court regarding her opposition to qantas’s support of same sex marriage in australia, and her wider views on race and sexuality. iceland is a country where same sex partnerships have been recognised since 1996, and where same sex couples have enjoyed the same adoption rights as straight couples since 2006. same sex marriages were unanimously approved in our parliament in 2010 (our then prime minister, jóhanna sigurðardóttir, was the world’s first openly gay pm, and one of the very first icelanders to be married under this legislation). we are also happy to say that since 2008 the church of iceland, and all other religions, were officially granted permission to bless same sex unions. we know margaret court’s opinions are not shared by the majority of australians. we want to add our voice to the call for marriage equality in australia —right here on margaret court arena itself. australia should be a country that celebrates positivity and inclusion, as well as achievement on the sporting field. we’ve decided to commission a special tee-shirt for this melbourne show, which we’ll also sell at our sydney show and at splendour in the grass, proceeds from which will go towards support of australian marriage equality. let’s make july 27th margaret court arena’s most inclusive night ever and call for every australian to have the same dignity and respect right here on centre court. takk fyrir, sigur rós #MarriageEquality #SRmelbourne

A post shared by sigur rós (@sigurros) on Jun 8, 2017 at 4:08pm PDT