# Australia: No Marriage or Kids For You, Fags **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 27, 2004, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-no-marriage-or-kids-for-you-fags/247340 "2004-05-27T14:40:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2004, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-no-marriage-or-kids-for-you-fags/247340/21 "2004-05-28T10:10:33Z")
> [@Jervoise](#): > > And fourth, a hearty slap-me-on-the-arse-and-call-me-Menzies **FUCK YOU** to John Winston Howard, that despicable little man, short of stature and short of humanity, that ugly wilfully-blind gnome soon for the dustbin of history, that evil blinking toad, that ignorant fool who honestly believes that gay marriage is [a threat to the survival of the species](http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/08/05/1059849376651.html). OK … “Menzies!” ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2004, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-no-marriage-or-kids-for-you-fags/247340/22 "2004-05-28T10:12:25Z")
Hmmph … I must have trimmed the post that I was quoting from incorrectly. Oh, well. ---
**Author:** ![Jervoise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d2c977/32.png) [@Jervoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jervoise)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2004, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-no-marriage-or-kids-for-you-fags/247340/23 "2004-05-28T10:41:46Z")
> [@legion](#): > > Isn’t “the Commonwealth” a voluntary association of independent states which encompass many religions, races, languages and cultures? Australia is known as the “_Commonwealth_ of Australia”. “Commonwealth” in this context refers to Australia’s Federal Government, as opposed to the states and territories which comprise the Commonwealth of Australia. I hope that didn’t render my OP confusing. > [@](#): > > Does Australia have a constitutional charter of rights prohibiting sex discriminiation under which the proposed legislation could be invalidated under reasoning similar to that used by the Canadian and Massachusetts courts? Similar to the UK, Australia does not have a bill of rights, relying on the common law and ordinary statutes. (The Commonwealth Consitution (if I have **legion** ’s permission to use that word) is interpreted by courts as implying certain freedoms (freedom of communication on political matters being one), but these are better seen as restrictions on governmental power, rather than positive rights.) ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2004, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-no-marriage-or-kids-for-you-fags/247340/24 "2004-05-28T11:02:52Z")
I’m not sure that a bill of rights would help that much. Some of America’s founders (especially the Federalists) were concerned that an enumeration of rights could be construed to mean that the enumerated rights, and no others, were rights of the people. So they put in the 9th amendment: “The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.” As you can see, even a disclaimer makes littlle difference. ---
**Author:** ![blackhobyah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blackhobyah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blackhobyah)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2004, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-no-marriage-or-kids-for-you-fags/247340/25 "2004-05-28T11:09:55Z")
I’m disappointed but not surprised. John Howard believes that society’s glory days were back in the fifties, and he’s been doing as much as possible to return Australia to the past ever since he’s been in office. Nor am I surprised at Labor rolling over. As Howard has shifted the Liberal party further rightwards, the Labor party has gone with them, so that the spot the Liberals might once have occupied is now Labor territory, and any territory leftwards is sort of owned by the Greens and the Democrats. The Democrats might have been a good option except that they seem to believe in shooting themselves in the foot and then imploding, every couple of years. Mark Latham is really a Liberal at heart I think, and if I hear much more about “family values” I’m not even going to bother reaching for my revolver, I’m going to start building weapons of mass destruction in my shed. That being said, I don’t think that Jervaise’s cautious optimism is justified. John Howard’s Government has changed Australia I believe, and not for the better. Instead of encouraging the good things about Australian society, this Government has actively engaged in encouraging the worst things about Australian society, including intolerance, xenophobia and a pernicious and ersatz “patriotism”. I believe that this Government will be dealt with harshly by history, and for the damage they have done to this country they deserve every degree of opprobrium that that judgement can offer. I am sorry for my gay friends that even the manner of this legislation being passed seems to be insulting, and I truly hope that justice and sense will prevail in the future. But really, what could you expect of this Government? You have only to look at the brutality with which they have dealt with refugees to know that human rights and a just society are of little interest to them. I have, none-too-lately, come to the conclusion that John Howard is a most appalling examply of Lord Acton’s maxim. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2004, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-no-marriage-or-kids-for-you-fags/247340/26 "2004-05-28T13:21:33Z")
Just when I think I cannot become any more disgusted or repulsed by Howard’s policies… he goes and pulls this shit. I spent years whinging that Beasley was nothing more than a nay-sayer, and now that we finally have a ballsy opposition leader in who does more than merely yell “'Tisn’t!”, he rolls over and lets Howard have his evil way. If only we had a nay-sayer in opposition today. ---
**Author:** ![Already\_in\_Use](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@Already\_in\_Use](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Already_in_Use)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2004, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-no-marriage-or-kids-for-you-fags/247340/27 "2004-05-29T03:20:54Z")
Guess we Americans are just gonna have to launch a pre-emptive strike to bring freedom to the Australian people! …Oh wait. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-no-marriage-or-kids-for-you-fags/247340.md?page=1)