Australian Senator Penny Wong with partner Sophie Allouache
What a great day!
Yet another state branch of the Australian Labor Party backs gay marriage - this time South Australia, birthplace of Australia’s gay rights movement in the 1960s. So much for the nonsense that supporting gay marriage is about this government being run by the Greens; no, it is finally a case of the Government being run by the people.
Most newsworthy of course is not the motion backing marriage, but the fact that the much vilified Penny Wong spoke in support of it.
Wong said: “There has been some commentary which has confused my position of not commenting publicly on this issue with my position on the actual issue itself … I have had the opportunity to advocate for equality at the highest levels of our party and within our party processes, as I do today. And I will do so again at the next national conference.” She then pointedly added: ” Talking about change is not the same as delivering it.”
Yes, she should have done this ages ago, but this is a very welcome move. And it should put all the sniping and vilifiers back in their place. Wong faced a backlash several months back that went beyond criticism and verged into racism and stupidity – now she is out and proud on the side of equality and this will really shift the debate inside the Labor party.
The motion reads: “This convention calls upon the ALP national conference to amend the platform to support the legal right of all adult couples in Australia to be married if they so choose, and for that marriage to be recognised and registered by law in Australia, regardless of the sexual orientation, or gender, of the parties to the marriage.”
What does this mean? We probably won’t be getting marriage equality before 2012 – but this might change – but we will almost certainly be getting it in 2012 at the latest. That does not apply if there is an early election and the Government is wiped out. But it probably isn’t going to do much worse than in August 2010 and any loss of support will probably go to the Greens anyway.
Tags: ALP gay marriage, Julia Gillard gay marriage, Penny Wong gay marriage, SA ALP gay marriage
Penny Wong for PM!
Well that’s all lovely, but can we talk about her dress sense? WTF is that shot pink and blue polyester straight from Paddy’s Market creation she is wearing?
Sophie really needs to share her wardrobe.
The reason why Penny Wong has been able to speak in support of same-sex marriage now is because she has done so within a legitimate Labor Party forum (the SA Labor convention). Cabinet Ministers are bound by government policy so she couldn’t publicly diasgaree e.g. in a media interview without breaking that rule. Her intervention is much more effective, and harder to dismiss by the Labor Right, precisely because it has been legitimately expressed inside the Labor Party (and has now helped win a state convention vote). Nonetheless, if you read Wong’s earlier public comments stating the government’s position, it is clear that she has never said that she personally thinks same-sex marriage is wrong – and that in itself was always a clear hint of what her personal views were. It is just that Wong believes in working within the ALP to change discriminatory policy – as she has done many times before on same-sex issues. We need people prepared to do that. Of course, we also need the glbti movement and minor parties pushing from the ALP to change from outside as well!