Here's what Hannah Gadsby has to say about it:I wonder how if feels to have your life and your rights being used as a political football.
I'm glad I don't know and I sympathise with those (the long list, which also includes first Aussies, women, asylum seekers and immigrants, etc. etc.) who do.
Oh hey guys… this plebiscite thing is a very bad idea.
Let me be clear. I don’t care about marriage equality for myself because I do not have an aptitude for relationships. The reason I care about this is because I don’t want young kids to hear the kind of horrific bile I was forced to listen to in the 1990s when Tasmania debated on whether to legalise homosexuality. For many, the debate was theatre. For me, it made me hate myself so deeply I have never been able to develop an aptitude for relationships.
In the mid nineties I was the age when I should have been learning how to be vulnerable, how to handle a broken heart, how to deal with rejection and how to deal with all the other great silly things about young love which help pave the way to the more substantial adult version. But instead I learnt how to close myself off and rot quietly in self-hatred. I learnt this because I learnt that I was subhuman during a debate where only the most horrible voices and ideas were amplified by the media. These voices also gave permission for others to tell me that I was less than them, with looks, words and on one occasion, violence.
Every day of my life I deal with the effects of anxiety and low self esteem. It is not nearly as debilitating as it used to be but I don’t imagine I will ever be truly free of it. Just imagine how brilliant I could have been if I hadn’t been given such a shit show at such a vulnerable time in my life.
I am very concerned that the plebiscite debate is going to be another open season for hate. I fear for those, particularly in regional Australia, who are isolated from positive voices.
If this plebiscite has to happen then lets try and drown out the hate filled commentators. They might not have the numbers but they will no doubt be handed a megaphone in the name of entertainment. But this kind of entertainment will not only ruin young lives…it will end some of them. Speech is not free when it comes at such a cost. This plebiscite is FUCKED.
Closing sentence is what should be the first and last statement for any discussion of the subject should be.
Even if they didn't need to spend it, I'm 100% certain that they would find another damn fool way to waste $100m.The libs should well and truely pay for this colossal waste of money. It's one thing to block it (not that I agree) but another to stall and waste taxpayer dollars to the tune of $100m to avoid an issue.
There is no federal anti discrimination law. Any that exist are state level, and vary wildly across the country. The 2004 amendment Bill was introduced as a ways of preventing foreign sanctioned, same sex unions being recognised in Australia, BUT also to preempt any state legislation to legalise it. As evidenced in the ACTs legalisation of same sex marriage being able to be nullified by the high court. Lil johnny wanted to make sure the only people who got a say in what would be recognised as a legal marriage were federal members (pun intended) towing the party line.To me - if I understand our MANY existing anti-discrimination laws which clearly state that one cannot deny another something based on their sexual orientation (amongst other factors such as age, health, etc) - the fact that religious organisations are denying gays the right to marry is, in and of itself, illegal.
In other words, we already have the laws in place that make denying marriage equality illegal - so any religion that is doing do IS BREAKING THE LAW!
There's things that Religious organizations can arguably discriminate against within their own institutions..that should have no bearing on societal laws.To me - if I understand our MANY existing anti-discrimination laws which clearly state that one cannot deny another something based on their sexual orientation (amongst other factors such as age, health, etc) - the fact that religious organisations are denying gays the right to marry is, in and of itself, illegal.
In other words, we already have the laws in place that make denying marriage equality illegal - so any religion that is doing do IS BREAKING THE LAW!
There is the racial discrimination act, but it isn't relevant to this.There is no federal anti discrimination law. Any that exist are state level, and vary wildly across the country. The 2004 amendment Bill was introduced as a ways of preventing foreign sanctioned, same sex unions being recognised in Australia, BUT also to preempt any state legislation to legalise it. As evidenced in the ACTs legalisation of same sex marriage being able to be nullified by the high court. Lil johnny wanted to make sure the only people who got a say in what would be recognised as a legal marriage were federal members (pun intended) towing the party line.
It is explicitly noted in the Australian Marriage Act of 1961, even before the 2004 amendment bill, that ministers of a religion are not bound by any obligation to solemnise any marriage.To me - if I understand our MANY existing anti-discrimination laws which clearly state that one cannot deny another something based on their sexual orientation (amongst other factors such as age, health, etc) - the fact that religious organisations are denying gays the right to marry is, in and of itself, illegal.
In other words, we already have the laws in place that make denying marriage equality illegal - so any religion that is doing do IS BREAKING THE LAW!
There's things that Religious organizations can arguably discriminate against within their own institutions..that should have no bearing on societal laws.
Done fixed...obligation to sodomise any marriage.
No one I know is saying all Christians oppose it....they are saying that anyone opposing it is a flog, religious or otherwise.So now we are into this debate,can someone point me in the direction of the hate filled speech this is going to bring forward ?
A few things have come across social media this last day or 2, and I'd have to say, that regretfully the hate comments have been mainly from the anti plebiscite side. If I were a Christian with a traditional view of marriage, I'd be pretty bloody insulted by the public slanging that says I can't be respectful in discussion.
Referendum on the republic question all over again.No one I know is saying all Christians oppose it....they are saying that anyone opposing it is a flog, religious or otherwise.
Lots of pro equality people are planning to boycott. I understand why, but it's compounding the problem.
You're giving it all of 24 hours? Really dude, you don't think it would be more reasonable and and rational to wait until towards the end of the gig to judge people's behaviour?So now we are into this debate,can someone point me in the direction of the hate filled speech this is going to bring forward ?
Politicians have changed their mind and are surfing the public wave. Oh my god, I'm so shocked and surprised........:faint2:The language is changing as well. It's all human rights, equality etc, yet 2010 when the ALP supported status quo, there was no one up in arms.
http://www.acl.org.au/tags/stolen_generationSo now we are into this debate,can someone point me in the direction of the hate filled speech this is going to bring forward ?
You mean like Bronwyn Bishop saying that marriage equality would lead to bestiality? Or ABC News Breakfast host Michael Rowland receiving a postcard asking if he approves of the "filthy practice" of "sodomy" and comparing gay people to "brownshirts"? Or perhaps Tony Abbott, dismissing the push for all Australians to be treated equally under the law as "political correctness" that needs to be stopped in its tracks? Or the usual blithering nonsense from the ACL about 'teaching kids to be gay' and so on and so forth?So now we are into this debate,can someone point me in the direction of the hate filled speech this is going to bring forward ?
If I were a Christian, I'd be pretty bloody insulted at the likes of Lyle Shelton and his ilk presuming to speak for me with their hate speech and outright lies.A few things have come across social media this last day or 2, and I'd have to say, that regretfully the hate comments have been mainly from the anti plebiscite side. If I were a Christian with a traditional view of marriage, I'd be pretty bloody insulted by the public slanging that says I can't be respectful in discussion.
I was. I was all the way up in those arms. And so were plenty of other people, actually. They had their chance and they knuckled under to the bigots, and I think it's pretty shit that they're using it to big themselves up now like that never even happened.Referendum on the republic question all over again.
The language is changing as well. It's all human rights, equality etc, yet 2010 when the ALP supported status quo, there was no one up in arms.
Getting married has been considered a basic right for quite a long time now. It's just a right that's been denied to a certain segment of the population.If something is a basic human right , then it has been for decades, not just a sudden recent thing. Ireland did it with a referendum, but that's not really an option here because it's not a constitutional question, only a few years ago, a plebiscite seemed a good compromise to drag tony Abbott into this century, but now it's not good enough..
something that has changed so much in such a short time is not an absolute
Funny how Christians didn't seem to mind creating a stolen generation when they were the ones stealing babies from unmarried teenage girls and giving them away to other people. But now that gay people want to adopt kids it's suddenly the most evil thing you can do to somebody.http://www.acl.org.au/tags/stolen_generation
have a read, its pretty disgusting and only going to get worse
I get your point but I don't think that's a helpful approach. My grandfather was a Christian and there is no way in hell he ever supported that kind of behaviour, child abuse or social marginalisation that parts of the church have practised in the past.Funny how Christians didn't seem to mind creating a stolen generation when they were the ones stealing babies from unmarried teenage girls and giving them away to other people. But now that gay people want to adopt kids it's suddenly the most evil thing you can do to somebody.