Marriage equality ‘inevitable’
Marriage equality advocates have called the past week a watershed event in the fight for marriage equality in Australia.
On October 24, a meeting of the ALP’s national left faction declared same-sex marriage in Australia to be inevitable.
The following day ALP left faction co-convenor Senator Doug Cameron said there would be a “huge push” for marriage at the next ALP federal conference — due before July 2012.
Then, over the weekend, it was the Labor right’s turn to speak out. On Saturday factional powerbroker Mark Arbib became the first ALP frontbencher to break the party line, telling News Ltd papers, “If I was the parent of a gay son or daughter I don’t know how I could tell them they didn’t have the same rights as I did”, while calling for a conscience vote on the issue.
The next day ALP national president and Queensland Premier Anna Bligh revealed herself as a supporter.
“People should be allowed to do what they like on this issue,” she told a press conference. “If people love each other and they build lives together and they want that recognised, I think that’s perfectly reasonable.”
On the ABC’s Q&A program on Monday, federal assistant treasurer Bill Shorten said he personally supports gay marriage, but believes the wider community is not yet ready for change.
Shorten joins Coalition MPs Warren Entsch and Mal Washer who have both indicated their personal support.
Figures from state politics joined Bligh, with the Tasmanian Premier David Bartlett stating he was not opposed to same-sex marriage, despite opposing a Greens bill to legalise it under state laws. Victoria’s Education Minister Bronwyn Pike has been a long term supporter.
Victoria and Tasmania’s ALP state conferences both passed motions in support of marriage equality last year.
Australian Marriage Equality convenor Alex Greenwich told Sydney Star Observer there was a sense of urgency around the issue in the ALP.
“They know it’s something they will have to deal with, and probably before the Victorian or NSW state elections because they don’t want to lose more votes to the Greens,” Greenwich said.
“Although it’s a federal issue it still impacts on how people vote. That will either mean a conscience vote or bringing forward the national conference.”
With figures from both the left and right endorsing marriage equality, Greenwich said he continued to be mystified by Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s opposition.
“The fact is that the Marriage Act has changed a number of times over the years. We continue to seek meetings with her, but I think having the added pressure from Mark Arbib, Anna Bligh and Doug Cameron, three pretty powerful figures within the ALP, it is hopefully paving the way for her to be reeducated on this issue,” he said.
Greenwich said it was now time for Labor MPs with large GLBT constituencies such as Anthony Albanese and Tanya Plibersek to join their colleagues to go public or be remembered for their silence.
info: On November 27, supporters of marriage equality will meet at the
Sydney Town Hall at 1pm for the next in a series of rallies.
Gav is the John Edgar Hoover type.
He has no morals, full of bile about his own sexuality. A conservative through and through. Not a progressive. To him progressive is code for Communism or Lunatic. Giving GLBTI people rights is going to end the world as far as Gav is concerned. How dare we dream the dream of equality! Gav thinks we should be like animals and given charity.
Gav’s problem is even the Liberal Party gives preferences to The Greens over Labor. The Greens have done an excellent job in Tasmaina with a Labor Coalition government.
Bob Brown was a GP in Tasmanian who was hounded and vilified by the conservatives about his sexuality. An openly Gay GP was unheard of in Tasmania at the time. This was a time when it was illegal in Tasmania to make love with your partner. Bob and his friends out of frustration formed The Greens. Who would ever think now after all these years The Greens would have the power to give us equal rights. To take Labor away from the Extreme Right and give it back to us the people.
It is hard to believe but there were people who were gay like Gav who were apposed to making it legal to make love to your partner. They still exist and sadly are still with us. They are still full of bile.
The hate they carry about people wanting an end to discrimination and oppression is hate about their own sexuality. That is when laws are mentioned to free all of us they get so offended, so enraged.
I wonder what it is about delusional wingnut slurs against the Greens that makes me want to support the Greens even more..
we all know that 90% of all gays will be divorced within 3 years so might as well save the divorce costs and stop supporting the communist greens
There is nothing inevitable about winning marriage equality. Sure some cracks have finally opened up in the ALP, but nothing is inevitable. We need all marriage equality supporters to flood the streets of Australia and attend the Equal Love rallies. Big rallies are critical in the current battle for marriage equality
The map’s a nice idea, Ryan, but it’s codswallop. It lists Tanya Plibersek, who’s my local member, and who has long refused to oppose her party leadership and support marriage equality. She’s still a Beazley/Latham/Rudd/Gillard stooge.
Tim:-
Labor’s policy against same-sex marriage was set by it’s National Conference…and National Conference only meets every three years.
So there is debate, not just about supporting same-sex marriage, but also how to change the ALP’s policy.
The important thing is people of the ALP’s Left and Right are now publicly supporting same-sex marriage – and their voices will be joined by others.
To see a full list of publicly open gay marriage supporters in the ALP, check out this map here. There are more than listed in this article, but it’s true that only a small minority of the real number of supporters have voiced their views publicly.
http://www.thegaymarriageblog.com/2010/11/map-of-alp-equality-supporters/
As I understand it, there’s a vote scheduled for before the end of the year. I don’t understand Labor’s strategy- public debate between MP’s and premiers is mystifying, every day this goes on they are bleeding bits of their base to the Greens- not that I’m complaining, but I still don’t understand.
I honestly think that, now that they’ve opened this Pandora’s box, their best strategy is to allow a conscience vote- to do otherwise would be a disaster for them.