Was it a good or bad election for the nation’s million or so gays and lesbians? Here’s my verdict, published by the National Times today (a joint venture of the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age). It’s going strong with the most comments of all opinion pieces today.
The start could hardly have been worse. Tony Abbott felt threatened by us, a Family First candidate linked gay marriage to child abuse, and Penny Wong sounded weak in defending Labor’s policy against marriage equality. Things started to look up when Greens’ vocal ‘equal love’ campaign was rewarded with a record vote. When Andrew Wilkie tabled a conscience vote on marriage as a priority the picture looked even better. Now the Labor-Greens agreement now leaves gays waiting (hopefully) at the altar.
The way forward is clearning a conscience vote on a Private Members Bill – but let’s not kid ourselves how tough that campaign will be …
(UPDATE: Good news in that the Greens promise to re-introduce Marriage Equality bill on first day of Parliament.)
Gay marriage may be close the heart of Adam Bandt – who has promised to introduce a Private Members’ Bill on the matter – as it is to Bob Brown and several Labor MPs. But Wong was called a “traitor” for simply stating her party’s existing policy during the campaign, so the Greens would be naive to expect less than a blowtorch from the pink press for letting marriage fall from the negotiating table.
Is that fair ? Probably not. The potential of achieving marriage equality under an Abbott Government is close to zero. The Labor-Green agreement also focusses on improved parliamentary processes, such as increased time for debating Private Members bills. This will also be an outcome of any deal struck by the major parties with the Independents. With Wilkie’s support Julia Gillard is increasingly likely to stay as Prime Minister, meaning a Private Members bill on gay marriage can be reasonably expected within a year.
Such a vote will happen against the backdrop of two separate political forces – on whom Prime Minister Gillard depends – pushing for equality. This in turn will make it hard for Labor not to offer a conscience vote on the issue. Given the freedom to do so, a majority of Labor MPs, including up to 14 likely Cabinet members would back equality.
Attention will now focus on the race to propose a gay marriage bill – will it be Wilkie, Bandt, or a Labor MP such as Anthony Albanese or Tanya Plibersek? But the real issue is whether Labor MPs get a conscience vote and in what circumstances. It would be especially poignant if Wilkie proposed the equality bill – taking Tasmania in just 15 years from a place where sodomy was illegal to a place where love is equal. But what is really needed is a vote from the ALP’s National Executive clearing the way for a conscience vote. This is the best way to get around the narrow loss of gay marriage advocates at the 2009 party conference.
Anyone pushing amendments to a marriage bill to make it a ‘civil union’ system will be on thin ice. Civil Unions may be a wonderful idea if they are an alternative to marriage. But they are a terrible idea if offered as a replacement for marriage. They aren’t used or understood nearly as widely as marriage. They won’t reward gays and lesbians with the social and cultural acknowledgement they deserve, and their delivery won’t garner political loyalty. Civil Unions are a halfway house to be avoided.
Throughout these exciting debates – a 2009 Senate Inquiry on gay marriage generated the most submissions ever – the threat of an early election will loom. Real or not, that threat will keep some MPs in their marriage closets. Gay communities will only have themselves to blame for that.
Instead of putting their eggs in the basket of single political parties, gay communities and their supporters need to be better organised.
Simply hoping Labor will change its mind off the back of a single 2009 Galaxy opinion poll (which found that 60% support equality) is not enough. In the Labor Party play book gays got their turn with 58 legal changes in 2008. They must now go to back of queue with gratitude. So instead of asking Penny Wong to ‘get on the next boat home’ as some have recently, it would have been better to arm her with detailed research. Funding full-time lobbying would also change the current dynamics where many seem to expect
Penny Wong as David to win against the Goliath of her blokey, poll-driven party.
In essence, gays and their straight supporters need to put their money where their mouths are. Eighty per cent of gays tell academic and political researchers that they want access to marriage. More than a tiny minority needs to do something about it.
Tags: Adam Bandt gay marriage, Andrew Wilkie gay marriage, Australian Marriage Equality, bob brown gay marriage, marriage equality, Penny Wong, Penny Wong gay marriage, Ryan Heath, ryan heath gay marriage, same sex marriage
