It cannot be said that Australians voted for gay marriage on 21 August, but the outcome is indeed good news for equality advocates. While more than 80% of Australians voted for parties (officially) opposed to gay marriage, they handed the balance of power in the upper house, the Senate, to the Australian Greens who were rewarded with record votes.
The Greens will jump from having three senators to eight and hold a crucial vote in the Lower House, which may determine which party forms the Government in the ‘hung parliament.’
If anything, Australians voted against their political class – a group that had collectively produced a farcical campaign in which gay marriage repeatedly featured. They said they didn’t want any one party (including all those opposed to equality) having a ‘blank cheque’ for power. The big question for equality supporters during all the horse-trading over who will form a Government is: will the Greens party hold their line? The Gillard Labor Government desperately needs their vote and the Greens shouldn’t trade it for anything less than a free vote on gay marriage in the next Parliament
(which could last as little as a year given the knife edge votes that will take place in a parliament where no party commands a majority).
Marriage advocates need to tell their Greens representatives (and they will now exist in virtually every state) that they will be furious if the Greens give into a civil union compromise or take the issue off the negotiating table.
From a political branding perspective, while gay marriage is not a core part of the Greens party identity, it has been a core part of their pitch for several years. It would be a disaster if they betrayed all their new supporters by not pushing hard for a full and free vote on the matter soon.
Tags: Adam Bandt gay marriage, Australia gay marriage, Australian election gay marriage, bob brown gay marriage, Julia Gillard
