Same-sex Marriage Legalised in Australia

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

The Australian parliament today voted overwhelmingly to pass the bill legalising same-sex marriage, and without any of the proposed amendments that, in the name of religious freedom, would have protected discrimination and bigotry, only four members voted against the bill

[quote]
www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/samesex-marriage-legalised-in-australia-as-parliament-passes-historic-law-20171206-h00cdj.html [\quote]

Congrats to all those who have fought for this and congrats to all those who will now be able to marry officially

2

About five years too late, and after an absurd rigmarole, but well done at last, Australia.

3

There has been polling data available for many years that 60-65% of Australians were in favour of SSM and that a simple private members bill and a free vote on the floor of parliament would have succeeded.

What the ABS survey showed was not only that the polling was correct, even with the worst the neas could throw at the question, but also that many of our more socially conservative parliamentarians represented very progressive electorates and many of our progressive politicians represented quite conservative electorates on this issue. It was retail politics. Yet still because the neas tried to bundle all manner of socially conservative agendas and red herrings to muddy the waters, the collective “we” weren’t buying it and these same red herring issues themselves have now been devalued as mainstream issues.

So whilst the battle could have been fought less trenchantly, much more cheaply and been won some time ago, that we have taken a (tortuously?) slower and more inclusive path to come to the same result, I think makes the victory significantly sweeter and represents a profound win on substantially broader issues.

4

Believe it or not, I was gonna attempt a ‘down under/down low’ type of joke, but I think I’ll restrain myself this time.

5

I’m generally against public proposals, but I thought Tim Wilson’s was perfectly appropriate :slight_smile: throws pink confetti with abandon

6

… and despite protestations from the four refuseniks Bob Katter, David Littleproud, Keith Pitt and Russell Broadbent the sun did rise today, yeah even over Queensland.

The Nea camp [heh, heh!] couldn’t muster the minimum numbers (5 of 150) for a formal division to be required.

7

I heard that, upon passage, there was singing in the House of Parliament. Show tunes, I presume.

:slight_smile:

8

Time to feed the crocodiles, after all.

It’s amazing how it went so much like every other country to legalize SSM. It’s almost as if this unprecedented, utterly unforeseeable event wouldn’t be unique in the history of the world, but would, instead, be similar to the experience of other countries which have, themselves, undergone this utterly one-of-a-kind transformative experience. Truly, it was utterly unpredictable in its predictability, and a valid reason to run in circles, scream, shout, and act like a drunkard in the halls of power.