With the upcoming plebiscite, I think it’s only fitting that I shed some light
on this issue of marriage equality. Can I just say firstly, I don’t know why it
is that I feel as though (no, I know for a fact) I have written this same
persuasive text more than once in both primary school and in high school, but I
still find it astounding that in 2017 same sex marriage is still up for debate.
What I also find absurd is that in some cases more children and young people understand the concept of equality better than most adults.
Because
that’s what this is all about isn’t it? I mean I’m really dumbing it down so
that even the narrowest of minds can understand. This is an issue of EQUALITY. I
know for a fact that most children, if not all of you, are taught values from
the moment you make your very first mistakes. You are simply taught right from
wrong.
For
example: for a long time as babies you would either point or cry whenever you
wanted something, but then you would be taught how to ask for it using words
like I want this, I want that. Soon your parents would decide it was time to
start using manners, please and thank
you. You learn about patience, sharing, the importance of family and kindness. When you finally go out into the playground and start
mixing with other kids, this is where you would learn about equality. You learn that everybody looks and sounds different but
we can all still play here, we can all be in the same classroom. When you
played games, teams would be equal, everyone gets a fair go and if you were to
leave somebody out you were told off.
That’s as
simple as I can make it, we are taught all these values when we are children so its expected that we uphold these values as adults otherwise, what was the point? And it
doesn’t even matter what economic background, what cultural background or what
religion you came from, we were all taught similar values just maybe in
different ways. Even if your parents weren’t the ones to teach you, some things
are just so universal, so obvious, that you pick them up wherever you go.
Another thing
we learn in maybe late primary school, early high school is all about our human
rights and freedoms. You’ve all heard of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948, I assume. It is a
document that includes all our basic human rights and is signed by countries
including Australia. It includes clauses like: “We are all free and equal” and “Don’t discriminate”. “The
right to a free and fair world” and “Nobody
can take away these rights and freedoms from us!”. These things are
universally understood hence the name. to marry who we choose is a basic human right like freedom of speech and freedom of religion. It does not matter
whether a person is male, female or some other gender (because guess what, they
are not the only two). And to say that it does matter is to discriminate. Who
are you to make that kind of decision for somebody? Not all homosexual people
necessarily want to get married either, just like not all straight people do.
It’s not about that, it’s nobody’s business really. This is about equal
opportunity; everyone deserving the opportunity to make that decision for
themselves no matter what.
Religion
seems to be a major argument against same sex marriage and look, as an atheist
I’m not going to claim to be an expert on religion (although my dad used to be catholic and I've done some research for this next argument). Here’s the thing, according
to the recent census, most people are not religious. Protecting the “sacred
tradition of marriage” would apply to religious marriages. Here we are
talking about legalising state marriage. Whatever you chose to believe is your
own business, it should not dictate a law that applies to an entire country. That
just isn’t fair. And even for those who are gay and wish to be religious, I still
think that it is unfair to exclude them from the churches just because of who
they love or wish to marry. I mean “do
unto others as you would have them do unto you”. Doesn’t that mean treat
others the way you would like to be treated? Isn’t that what equality is? I know
there are also other passages in the bible that tell us that marriage is
between a man and a woman but honestly times are changing. We cannot dictate
laws based on something that was written 2700 years ago. Our morals have
changed since then, society has developed, we have different ways of living and
we need laws that reflect that. The same goes for different cultures. I’m sorry
but Australia is a place of many cultures and we are able to accept everyone but
we are not going to decide that all gays can’t marry because one minority group is against it.
Love is love. We just need to accept people for who they are. Legalising same sex marriage might not solve everything, but it’s a damn good start!
Okay yes,
there is a plebiscite. Whoop-dee-do! Back in 2004 the Howard government changed
The Marriage Act 1961 to define marriage as “voluntarily entered-into union of a man and a woman to exclusion of
all others”. Before that, marriage was not defined as being between a man
and a woman but the government was able to approve this bill without
consultation with the electorate, without plebiscite or postal vote; and
without prior electoral promise or mandate. So, what’s stopping the government
from doing it again… in reverse? Well the truth is; nothing! If the government
really wanted marriage equality they would make it so and they would’ve done it
by now. All these years of drawn-out debates and now a plebiscite? It’s all
just a rouse! In fact, according to Roy
Morgan Research: A large majority of Australians (76%) are in favour of
allowing gay marriage. The government says they went into the last election promising
a plebiscite. I guess they’re upholding that promise, but there were a lot of
other promises that didn’t pan out. Besides a majority of
Australians said they would vote "yes" in a plebiscite anyway. If I could tell
the government one thing, it would be to stop wasting time and money and just
resolve this issue once and for all (the way it should be resolved) so we can
move on to other pressing issues.
I have spoken,
for the most part, from my head and so I would hope that
most of what I’ve said so far makes logical sense. I also wanted to make sure
that even the people who don’t have the compassion to make the right choice on
their own, see that this argument I’m putting forward actually does have
some legitimate substance.
But I also
want to speak from my heart because I think that’s important too. My best
friend in the world is bisexual, my cousin is gay and I have another friend who was
raised by lesbian mums. I’m sure that every second person is friends with, is
related to, or knows of someone who is from the LGBTQ community and I think we
can all agree that we do not think them any less. We do not love them any less.
This is why we need to get angry. They’re just people for goodness sake! They
deserve love and happiness and we need to support them. We need to let them know
that it’s okay to be who they are. Give them the freedom that they deserve to
make their own choices.
The last thing I want to add is, I know a lot of people are planning to boycott this plebiscite. Please don't! I don't agree with it either but its the only chance we have at making a difference. Every vote counts so don't waste it!
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Yah! Beat that Turnbull. Or should I say turncoat!
ReplyDeleteTrue,. All of it.
ReplyDeleteThere you go: https://www.facebook.com/Beachmere/posts/1427927733928729
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