Australia… a little less homophobic?
April 30, 2008 by shoolive
Well, thank you, Kevin Rudd. I think.
One of the ‘promises’ made by the Labor party in the 2007 election was to eliminate current laws which discriminate against homosexuals in Australia. And, yes, Mr Rudd and our parliament have risen to the challenge of actually honoring an election promise and announcing they will be ‘removing almost 100 anti-gay laws’ which should occur by mid-2009.
They have decided, however, that marriage should only occur between a man and woman and hence will not legalise homosexual marriages or ceremonies in our country.
It seems that although John Howard has been pissed off and is no longer important, our government is still continuing to be a mob of narrow-minded pricks.
I’m not one to stand up for gay rights very often. I don’t actually believe I will ever ‘marry’ someone - although I am in a very stable, happy long-term relationship. I just think of marriage as being a ‘christian’ partnership/ceremony and I am not a christian.
Now don’t swarm me with abusive comments for my last statement (because I really get loads of comments on this blog!) - everyone will have different opinions about marriage and believe it to represent different things, and that’s great. Go and get married and celebrate (if you’re straight, of course)… I am merely expressing my personal opinion of marriage.
That being said, I still think it is an absolute pile of shite that they will abolish laws which discriminate against gay couples yet will not seriously consider legalising gay unions.
Fuck you, Australian government. I at least want to know I am ‘allowed’ to get married to my partner of choice if I want to.
Maybe we should be grateful for coming a little closer to equality… then again, maybe we should keep pushing for our country to wake up to itself.
I just wanted to get my comments in before the hordes start thumping their way here from your sneaky little tags!
Yes Choo choo. I want to get married, but if only to wear a fabulous frock! You should be allowed to wear one too!
Won’t be legalising gay parents adopting or IVF either. But look at it this way, it’s progress and a mighty great big chunk of it compared to what would ever (or should I say never) have come about under Howard. It might not be the 100% leap to total equal rights but it’s a fucking brilliant start.