Australian Marriage Equality Vote Thread 2017

neandermagnon

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Utter bollocks as far as the UK's concerned.

And further to giving the people saying those things the good ole British V salute, it really pisses me off when people start ranting about "freedom of speech" being impinged upon because they're not allowed to be prejudiced any more.

I used to live in Saudi Arabia. The country that bans any non-government approved Islamic scholars from giving fatwas (legal rulings) to the point that if you google search opinions of scholars outside Saudi Arabia, you get the whole "this site is banned by the government" net nanny screen. You literally can't read any Islamic scholar/fatwa site in Saudi Arabia, other than those run by the government approved scholars, i.e. those that will make up rulings to match what the King wants people to think. IKEA had to produce catalogues with no women in them at all, to prevent the Saudi censors ruining their catalogues with big, thick marker pens. Something IKEA were criticised for, but no matter how they portrayed women in their catalogues, the censors were scribbling them out with big, thick marker pens. So what could IKEA do? The censors literally go through every single individual catalogue (or any book, publication, etc being imported) and use marker pens to scribble out the bits they don't approve of. That's if the book gets approved at all, because a great many don't. Seriously, people who whine about "freedom of speech" because they're called out for being bigots need to wake up and see what censorship actually looks like.

So yeah it kind of annoys me a lot when people whinge about "I don't have freedom of speech to be a bigot any more because of these draconian hate speech laws*" - UK hate speech laws aren't draconian. If you're not being a total unmitigated bigot and threatening to hurt people because of their ethnicity, gender, sexuality, disability, etc, you're not going to fall foul of them. Even most bigots won't fall foul of hate speech laws. "I hate/disagree with (add any protected group here)" and similar is not against hate speech laws. "Let's all go and beat up (add any protected group here)" would be against hate speech laws (and might be considered terrorism.)

*and of course the people saying those things are saying it's marriage equality laws that have led to a lack of freedom of speech/religion, which is just silly.



ETA: please excuse my rants I know I'm preaching to the choir here... but I'm just so shocked and angered by this. Let me know if boycotting Australian alcoholic drinks would work or not
 
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mccardey

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Let me know if boycotting Australian alcoholic drinks would work or not
I doubt that it would ;). But Aussies can be peculiarly receptive to ridicule from other countries. Use your (very excellent) voice for that on any social media channel you frequent. A cold, hard, short fact or two and a slap of ridicule to follow is your best bet. Says this Aussie.

ETA: I've been quoting Be Frank's post #22 all over the place today.
 
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Sedjet

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But Aussies can be peculiarly receptive to ridicule from other countries. Use your (very excellent) voice for that on any social media channel you frequent. A cold, hard, short fact or two and a slap of ridicule to follow is your best bet. Says this Aussie.

+ 1 from this Aussie too.

I can't believe we're still talking about this. Can't people just live and let live?

I have a friend who is religious (not sure what denomination) who said that he doesn't care if gay people marry, but he's voting no because it's against his religion. I just don't understand. Why deny people if you don't even care?

I had been living in New Zealand for about four years until recently. I mean, I'm not religious so not sure if I would notice, but no one's religious freedoms seemed in jeopardy over there after gay marriage was legalised. I mean, there were a few earthquakes, sure. But I doubt those are related.
 

be frank

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Perhaps, neandermagnon, you could take a photo of the sky and paste it all over social media. Prove to these cretins that it hasn't fallen in over there because of loving couples getting married.

ETA: I've been quoting Be Frank's post #22 all over the place today.

:e2flowers
 

Alan Yee

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I've been following the Australian marriage equality saga with great interest for a while now. Interesting that even the puritanical U.S. achieved marriage equality before Australia...
 

Roxxsmom

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I'm sad to see that your country also has a problem with haters (and those who are smugly complacent as well) wielding disproportionate power over those who want society to be just and egalitarian. I don't have any suggestions or advice, because I don't know enough about how politics work in Australia.

Over here in the US (and to our shame), marriage equality was not awarded by a vote of the people, nor by an act of congress, but via a court decision. If we'd had to adopt marriage equality legislatively, we'd likely have been fighting over it, state by state, for decades. The majority of Americans now favor it, but we don't have national referendums. As for acts of congress, the founding fathers set things up so that the most conservative states always wield disproportionate power in both House and Senate. Expansions of human rights, on a national level, nearly always seem to come down to SCOTUS these days.

I'm scared for my own country's future in this regard, because over here in the US many hard-fought rights are holding on by the thinnest of threads--several very old supreme court justices, any or all of whom could die or become debilitated before 2020.

I hope things work out in Australia, and I hope both of our countries get increasingly in step with the 21st century over the next few years.
 
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SWest

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I've been following the Australian marriage equality saga with great interest for a while now. Interesting that even the puritanical U.S. achieved marriage equality before Australia...

Well, I'm certain that would not have been the case if equality had been put to a majority referendum on minority rights.

*********

But I can report that no, repeat NO, clergy have been nailed to daises and made to officiate for same-sex couples.
 

Alan Yee

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Well, I'm certain that would not have been the case if equality had been put to a majority referendum on minority rights.

Honestly, you're right. If U.S. had continued the state-by-state approach, I don't know if it would have ever happened.
 

be frank

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Well, what could possibly go wrong with this foolproof, non-binding, run-by-the-unqualified-ABS postal survey?

Mr. BF and I received our surveys today. Care of ever-competent Australia Post, we also received three of our neighbours' surveys. Were I a less honest alien zebra, I wouldn't have gone for a walk in the rain when I got home from work to deliver them to their rightful owners. FFS.

Sigh.
 

Albedo

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You're not saying that the combined expertise of the ABS and Aus Post has produced a fustercluck of the highest order, are you?
 

be frank

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You're not saying that the combined expertise of the ABS and Aus Post has produced a fustercluck of the highest order, are you?

You've neglected to include the LNP amongst the fustercluckers.
 

mccardey

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Clusterfuckage of the highest order, this.
 

Albedo

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Oh Good. Checked my letterbox. Nothing in it but a glossily produced brochure, entitled

THE DEATH OF REASON
and the rainbow walk to insanity!

Thanks, Malcolm.

- - - Updated - - -

Agent Smith was right.
 

be frank

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We've thankfully had no hate junk (yet). We did, however, get a letter from NBN Co saying that we'll "be getting NBN at some point in the next year, but don't have to do anything at this time."

Seriously, wtf was the point of that letter, NBN Co?? Gosh, I can't possibly imagine how it's ended up having so many cost blowouts.

Like a bloody episode of Utopia, only not funny.
 

Roxxsmom

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Honestly, you're right. If U.S. had continued the state-by-state approach, I don't know if it would have ever happened.

I'm pretty sure it would have dragged on for decades, and couples legally married in states that allowed it would still have been denied federal recognition and benefits (because the "Defense of Marriage Act" was also struck down by a court decision). And that's assuming that the haters wouldn't have found a way to block states from granting equal rights, much as some states are passing laws that block counties and cities within themselves from doing so.

I hope your mail poll comes back overwhelmingly in favor and this lights a fire under the politician's tails.
 
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be frank

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Is it just my imagination, or does everything in Australian politics sound like it comes from Rhonda and Jim?

It's not your imagination.

Speaking of, does anyone know if there was a Utopia on yesterday, or was last week's the season finale? Just went to set a reminder for tonight's repeat, but there isn't one. (There is a new Gruen though, so yay!)
 
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Albedo

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I started this thread to document the hate, but not only did that turn out to be too depressing, there's so much new fuckery every day you couldn't keep up even if you wanted to. So maybe this thread should be for the absurdity, instead.

And I think we've crossed the event horizon of absurdity, folks. Australia's sitting Prime Minister and Attorney General are currently slinging it out via the media with its former PM and sitting Immigration Minister over ... Macklemore. Specifically, Macklemore's seminal 2013 'Same Love', and whether allowing the Grammy-winning artist to sing it at the rugby league grand final is social engineering. Or something. I can't even keep up with the discourse any more. The land down under has gone bananas. We're three sheets to the wind. Balls to the wall. We'd have to go sane at superluminal velocities to stay only this crazy. Wheeeeeeeeee!
 

mccardey

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It's a fabulous song - I just heard it for the first time because of Abbott.
 

Helix

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And I am reeling because the Attorney-General knows more about popular culture than I do.

(PS Did you hear that Abbott suggested sending in the Army to secure gas supplies in states that don't want fracking?)
 

Albedo

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It's a contest between Abbott and Latham for 'former opposition leader best demonstrating the tragic long term neurological effects of being belted about the head a lot', isn't it?