Good news, marriage discrimination likely to end in Australia

[kenny]

62% of poll participants support marriage equality.
Now the legislation is expected to follow.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-41992344

Snip-O-Rama:
Australians have voted in favour of legalising same-sex marriage in a historic non-binding poll.

The vote showed 61.6% of people favour allowing same-sex couples to wed, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said.

More than 12.7 million people - about 79.5% of eligible voters - took part in the eight-week postal survey.

PM Malcolm Turnbull said the "overwhelming" result meant his government would aim to change the law in parliament before Christmas.

"[Australians] have spoken in their millions and they have voted overwhelmingly yes for marriage equality," he said after the result was announced.

"They voted yes for fairness, yes for commitment, yes for love. And now it is up to us here in the parliament of Australia to get on with it."

Supporters began celebrating the result in public spaces across Australia on Wednesday, waving rainbow flags and singing and dancing.

• The Australian weddings in waiting
• How the two-month debate became heated
• 'No' advert draws criticism

"This is an amazing outcome and we should all be very proud of this amazing country," Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce, a prominent same-sex marriage supporter, told a jubilant crowd in Sydney.

Former Australian PM Tony Abbott, a high-profile same-sex marriage opponent, said the parliament should "respect the result".

"I always said this was an issue where the Australian people wanted their say and today's result demonstrates that seeking their views was the right thing to do," he wrote on Facebook.

Mr Turnbull, a strong same-sex marriage supporter, is facing debate within his government over what the parliamentary bill should include.

Some conservative MPs are pushing for the the bill to include exemptions that would allow businesses opposed to same-sex marriage to refuse goods and services for weddings.

 

[kenny]

Of course the ever-present sh!t4brains are pulling for retention of the dark ages ... notice the article's last sentence ...

"Some conservative MPs are pushing for the the bill to include exemptions that would allow businesses opposed to same-sex marriage to refuse goods and services for weddings."



So I guess marriages between Catholics and Protestents can be refused service too, and those between whites and latinos, or blacks and white, hey why not red heads and brunetts ...
We all know Glob only blesses marriages of the identical!

 

[tkyasx78]

That is great news! Welcome to te modern world australia!
Frankly i thought the usa was the last nation to change. I am surprised australia didnt already have same sex marriage!

 

[AGBF]

It is imperfect, as you point out in your second posting, kenny, but it is certainly a huge step in the right direction. Huge. Thank you for the good news. After hearing about Judge Roy Moore all day, I really needed to hear something uplifting! Thank you!

Deb

 

[kenny]

It is imperfect, as you point out in your second posting, kenny, but it is certainly a huge step in the right direction. Huge. Thank you for the good news. After hearing about Judge Roy Moore all day, I really needed to hear something uplifting! Thank you!

Deb

Yeah, although I'm sure my second post was offensive to sh!t4brains people.

If there was an I-net then I'm sure the same folks would be offended by pro-equality post soon after slavery was abolished.

Superiority is addictive.

 

[jordyonbass]

When the news broke it made me yahoo in the car today on a long drive. I have many friends who are now one step closer to marriage but I also have a handful of people in my life that are going to complain about it. Interestingly it's probably at about the same ratio as what the vote tally came out as.

 

[kenny]

Tell the complainers they don't have to marry someone of the same sex.

There.
Problem solved.
Now they have nothing to complain about.

 

[arkieb1]

Of course the ever-present sh!t4brains are pulling for retention of the dark ages ... notice the article's last sentence ...

"Some conservative MPs are pushing for the the bill to include exemptions that would allow businesses opposed to same-sex marriage to refuse goods and services for weddings."



So I guess marriages between Catholics and Protestents can be refused service too, and those between whites and latinos, or blacks and white, hey why not red heads and brunetts ...
We all know Glob only blesses marriages of the identical!

Friends of mine celebrated today and I'm so glad that equality won out here finally as it's been a lengthy debate. Two things worth pointing out - our current Prime Minister himself is a conservative, he's just a middle of the road to left thinking conservative. Here in Australia the two main political parties are closer to the centre in general than yours are..... And most Catholic voters here in Australia traditionally have been Labour voters (ie our left political side of the two parties) so the sh@# for brains encouraging businesses to refuse to serve LGBT people come from both sides of politics, and unlike the US a number of conservatives here (including the Prime Minister) have been very vocal advocates for marriage equality.

 

[arkieb1]

A break down of the electorates (geographical areas) of voters that were the highest % against same sex marriage in Sydney for example were in Western Sydney in suburbs with a high ethnicity that are traditionally Labour (left voting) - think working class suburbs of non Protestant voters that have working class Catholic (but left voting) constituents and a high population of other religions like Muslim (but still in this country left voting) people. Both sides of our elected members reflect the same thing. Australia in general is far far less religiously based and religious in general than the US, and a lot of people here that are religious vote for the left side of politics not the right conservative side.

 

[jordyonbass]

Tell the complainers they don't have to marry someone of the same sex.

There.
Problem solved.
Now they have nothing to complain about.

That is what I always said; don't like gay marriage? Don't marry a gay person and no worries!!

 

[AGBF]

A break down of the electorates (geographical areas) of voters that were the highest % against same sex marriage in Sydney for example were in Western Sydney in suburbs with a high ethnicity that are traditionally Labour (left voting) - think working class suburbs of non Protestant voters that have working class Catholic (but left voting) constituents and a high population of other religions like Muslim (but still in this country left voting) people. Both sides of our elected members reflect the same thing. Australia in general is far far less religiously based and religious in general than the US, and a lot of people here that are religious vote for the left side of politics not the right conservative side.

I am so confused!

Sorry, arkieb, I truly am. I actually would like to know more about the social composition of Australia. As I have mentioned in a couple of threads, I have read all of Liane Moriarty's books and started to read about normal (or what passes for normal in her books) people in Australia for the first time. I need to take baby steps to understand who makes up the landscape in Australia, I think! (I do not expect you to provide the tutorial. I will have to pursue my education on my own time!)

Deb

 

[arkieb1]

I am so confused!

Sorry, arkieb, I truly am. I actually would like to know more about the social composition of Australia. As I have mentioned in a couple of threads, I have read all of Liane Moriarty's books and started to read about normal (or what passes for normal in her books) people in Australia for the first time. I need to take baby steps to understand who makes up the landscape in Australia, I think! (I do not expect you to provide the tutorial. I will have to pursue my education on my own time!)

Deb

Hi Deb,

Ask away - unlike the US we were not founded on the basis of religious freedom, we don't have anything like your first amendment and therefore we don't have this deep religious underpinning in our society. You really do have a bible belt of conservative voters. We were a penal colony, a dumping ground for England's overcrowded jails and then after that a place where people could get a patch of land and make something of themselves in a new landscape.

We had both Irish convicts and a number of free working class Irish that moved here and for many years there was a huge divide between them and middle class and working class English, Scottish and Welsh Protestants. My mother and other people I know tell stories about how people from one church looked down their noses at the other and there was quite a lot of hostility between the two groups.

The Irish were frequently located in poorer urban and rural areas and they set up churches in Australia spreading Catholicism here. The Australian Labor Party (the main left party in Australia) have a long history of unionism and supporting the poor and working class (including Irish) workers. A line from an article which I will put the link below;
"Conservatism in Australia, (our conservative party now called the Liberal party) on the other hand, was overwhelmingly Protestant and British and thus fundamentally hostile to all things Catholic and Irish."

Today in Australia the two parties have a very small number of far left and far right politicians and many more on both sides that lean towards or are more in what we would refer to as the centre of politics. I'd argue today woking class Catholics that live in Western Sydney that are against same sex marriage are more likely to be of Italian, Asian and of European descent. The areas in Western Sydney that also returned a huge no vote to same sex marriage also have a large working class Muslim population who obviously based on religious beliefs are against same sex unions of any kind.

Link to Irish history and the Labour party Movement (left wing of our politics).

http://sydney.edu.au/business/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/219344/Hall_Malcolm_paper.pdf

 

[jordyonbass]

I am so confused!

Sorry, arkieb, I truly am. I actually would like to know more about the social composition of Australia. As I have mentioned in a couple of threads, I have read all of Liane Moriarty's books and started to read about normal (or what passes for normal in her books) people in Australia for the first time. I need to take baby steps to understand who makes up the landscape in Australia, I think! (I do not expect you to provide the tutorial. I will have to pursue my education on my own time!)

Deb

Here is what I have found having lived in many different regions and I am going to avoid using the religious folk here to make up my numbers for obvious reasons. In the metropolitan areas you will have high concentrations of people from varying cultures and everyone usually gets along; these are where I think many of the 'Yes' voters live as they know people affected by the bill just by sheer chance of living in a heavily populated area with all socio-economic classes.

As you go out into more rural areas you will find that the ethnicity is largely white european (i.e family from the first fleets) and middle-class/blue-collar; these people would amass a large amount of the 'No' voters. I used to run a pub and the pub manager before me was gay; the whole reason I was brought in was because the little town had boycotted the pub and it was going bankrupt. While I faced my own boycott for being of Mediterranean-European appearance, just the fact I wasn't gay was enough to make most of the town come back. Those people are threatened by change to the status-quo and due to minor isolation they've probably never knowingly met a gay person so the 'No' vote made sense to them.

Of course there are people who broke those definitions everywhere but that's what I have generally seen in my experience living in this beautiful country.

Just my .02

 

[arkieb1]

Here is what I have found having lived in many different regions and I am going to avoid using the religious folk here to make up my numbers for obvious reasons. In the metropolitan areas you will have high concentrations of people from varying cultures and everyone usually gets along; these are where I think many of the 'Yes' voters live as they know people affected by the bill just by sheer chance of living in a heavily populated area with all socio-economic classes.

As you go out into more rural areas you will find that the ethnicity is largely white european (i.e family from the first fleets) and middle-class/blue-collar; these people would amass a large amount of the 'No' voters. I used to run a pub and the pub manager before me was gay; the whole reason I was brought in was because the little town had boycotted the pub and it was going bankrupt. While I faced my own boycott for being of Mediterranean-European appearance, just the fact I wasn't gay was enough to make most of the town come back. Those people are threatened by change to the status-quo and due to minor isolation they've probably never knowingly met a gay person so the 'No' vote made sense to them.

Of course there are people who broke those definitions everywhere but that's what I have generally seen in my experience living in this beautiful country.

Just my .02

Jordy - Yes you would assume that was the case we joke that small rural communities are often redneck and conservative, but they recorded the voting from every electorate in Australia and what actually happened was places like Alice Springs with a high Indigenous population returned some of the lowest % of forms. Many of the rural places that you are talking about also returned a lower % of forms. So statistically rather than vote no these people were more likely to not vote at all IMHO. My parents live out in one of those communities. The highest places that returned a No vote were inner city suburbs with a high ethnic base, in Sydney Auburn was one for example, and the reason is that it is a suburb with a very high Muslim population. So rather than the highest no votes coming from what we would consider redneck conservative rural places they actually came from inner city suburbs with large pockets of voters that were a non white and either Catholic or Muslim background, where rather than not caring they are very passionately no based upon religious reasons. I think there were some mining communities that also returned a no vote but not as strongly as the city areas I am specifically talking about, because once again many of them probably didn't vote and many more women than men voted yes.

 

[Jopdrop]

That is great news! Welcome to te modern world australia!
Frankly i thought the usa was the last nation to change. I am surprised australia didnt already have same sex marriage!

We actually did achieve marriage equality in some parts of Australia in 2013, but it was found to be inconsistent with federal law and it was reversed.. this vote inflicted a lot of pain on the LGBT community, but I hope this will finally bring us equality.

 

[Matata]

 

[arkieb1]

WoooHooo this happened in Australia this afternoon;

"The same-sex marriage bill has passed the senate with 43 votes in favour to 12 against."

 

[kenny]

I'm so so so sorry we sinners have destroyed the sanctity of the marriage Nick and Sarah Jensen, those two pious steaming piles of putrid cat diarrhea.

NOT.

FVCK them, and the revolting religion they rode in on.
... and may all of their spawn be gay.

I'm so looking forward to 5,214,154,785,415 generations ... when all BS this is over.

 

[AGBF]

From what I read, some members of the Senate opted not to vote at all. I am not sure what that was supposed to mean. At any rate, next the bill must go to The House of Representatives. Even if it passes, I believe that gay couples will not be able to force vendors to sell goods to them if they have religious objections (as kenny mentioned earlier). One step at a time, I guess.

 

[Siameseroo]

From what I read, some members of the Senate opted not to vote at all. I am not sure what that was supposed to mean. At any rate, next the bill must go to The House of Representatives. Even if it passes, I believe that gay couples will not be able to force vendors to sell goods to them if they have religious objections (as kenny mentioned earlier). One step at a time, I guess.

Whilst the bill as it stands provides an exemption allowing religious ministers (and I think civil celebrants) to opt out of officiating same sex wedding ceremonies, there is no carve allowing businesses to deny services for same sex weddings.

Of course this is subject to amendment in the House of Representatives so we will see but I doubt that would get through. The support for marriage equality is strong here!

 

[AGBF]

I think the film clip below shows that the vote in Australia is a pretty big step! I found this incredibly uplifting and joyful. This happened today.

Marriage Proposal...

Deb