As UK on verge of gay marriage, Australia falls behind

Date

February 7, 2013

Stephanie Peatling

A conservative Prime Minister has stared down the critics in his own party, allowed a conscience vote and is now on the cusp of introducing equal marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples in England and Wales.

Tuesday’s vote in the House of Commons has Australian activists asking: Why not here?

Assuming the House of Lords will also vote in favour – as commentators suggest it will – then Britain will join the Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, South Africa, Spain, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Portugal and several states of the US in allowing same-sex marriage.

 

The Greens on Wednesday reintroduced a bill to grant equal marriage rights to Australian gay and lesbian couples.

That bill will fail, as did the two previous bills that went before Parliament last year.

It will fail despite poll after poll showing people are relaxed about changing the definition of marriage. It will fail because nothing much has changed in mainstream politics in the past few months.

Last year Labor MPs were allowed a conscience vote (although the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, is personally against the change) but Coalition MPs were not. Gay marriage rights in Australia is a simple question of maths.

There are not enough Labor, Greens and independent MPs in favour of change and Coalition MPs must vote along party lines.

Some of the most persuasive members of the gay marriage movement in Australia are the parents who are advocating for change because they don’t want their gay children to be deprived of the right to marry the person they love.

Last year I spoke to one of those parents, Geoff Thomas. The former Vietnam veteran recounted his journey of confronting his prejudices about homosexuality when his son came out to him. Mr Thomas is a vocal campaigner for change and makes the point that Australian politicians have been left behind by public opinion. ”The biggest obstacle to equal rights for gays and lesbians is their own Parliament,” he told me.

”The people are way ahead. When all this is over and my son has the same rights as everybody else, they’ll all be wondering what all the bloody fuss was about.”