If you were surprised that David Cameron, conservative British Prime Minister, has decided to “emphatically support” full gay marriage being introduced in Britain by 2015, you have the facts both for you and against you.
In many ways, Cameron’s conversion is the conversion of millions who have been exposed to the arguments and to gay friends and colleagues over a prolonged period. The change is also special given how far his party has come – putting it well ahead of parties like the centre-left Australian Labor Party, for example.
Exciting news about “Speak Now” a new Australian book on gay marriage that I have written a chapter for … it’s going to hit the bookstands and your e-readers in October 2011.
Australian activists such as Andrew Barr, EvelynGray and Rodney Croome, who have written for The Gay Marriage Blog are also contributing chapters amongst a stellar cast of 30 or so writers. This should make a great impact as debate around the Australian Labor Party conference heats up.
In an Australian first, marriage equality advocates have met Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, to put their case for reform.
Attending the meeting were former Australian Medical Association President, Kerryn Phelps and her wife, Jackie Stricker-Phelps, Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) national spokesperson, Shelley Argent, Australian Marriage Equality (AME) campaign director, Rodney Croome, and same-sex mental health specialist, Paul Martin.
Professor Phelps and Mrs Stricker-Phelps said they told the Prime Minister about the pain of not having their overseas marriage recognised in Australia and gave her letters written by their children about the need for equality. Professor Phelps said, “I am very pleased we have opened a dialogue with the Prime Minister and hope to continue to talk to her about this issue”. Mr Croome emphasised the importance of marriage equality as a way of promoting inclusion and participation in family life and told the Prime Minister she has a historic opportunity to make Australian a more just and equitable nation. “In response to reports that the Labor Party may adopt a conscience vote on marriage equality before the National Conference has a chance to deal with the issue in December, the Prime Minister gave us an assurance there will be a debate on marriage equality at the National Conference”, Mr Croome said. Mr Martin spoke to the Prime Minister about the link between mental health, internalised homophobia and the inability to marry. “I felt Ms Gillard listened respectfully and seemed to take on board what I was saying. She accepted information about marriage equality and mental health from a recent statement by the American Psychological Association.”
Said Argent: “I felt Ms Gillard listened … meeting gave me hope that if the (ALP) National Conference is positive on this issue she won’t stand in the way of marriage equality being presented to Parliament.”
While fully agreeing with this article from the New York Times, I have to say that Jaye Cee Whitehead leaves out the best examples of her own argument and analysis.
Basically, she says it is dehumanising to argue for equality on the basis of economic competitiveness or the revenue a booming wedding industry brings in. True.
But the biggest economic gains are not from weddings, they are actually from the better health that people have throughout their life when someone is there to care for them – they live longer, healthier etc and are therefore also not a big fat burden on the state.
And secondly the best reason for equality isn’t because we are citizens, even if that sounds the most idealistic reason (children are citizens too; fathers and daughters are citizens but not good marriage partners); it’s because we are as capable of fulfilling the obligations of marriage as any other adult.
Finally, after what the banks and their leaders just did to our economies, supporting marriage equality is the least they can do.
Radio Netherlands is always coming up with interesting stories on LGBT issues – I recommend them. Here they trace what happened after 10 years of full gay marriage for the Dutch.
It’s turn out that the Dutch aren’t that keen on gay marriage. That is, they support it in principle but they don’t tie the knot very often. While 80% of heterosexual couples are married, only 20% of gay couples are.
Divorce rates are roughly the same.
I don’t fully trust these figures. They suggest just 15,000 marriages have been created, meaning there are only 60-80,000 gay couples in a highly liberal country of 16 million. That clearly can’t be right. But to the extent that the 20% figure is wrong, the real figure can only be lower.
Elizabeth Taylor (apparently she hated Liz), was a woman of depth on-screen and off. Here is her early and brilliant speech in favour of gay marriage at the 2000 GLAAD awards in California, with thanks to Rex Wockner for reminding us of this vision. Taylor fought for equality long before it was sexy, and we’ll remember her long after we finally achieve it.
“All of my life I’ve spent a lot of time with gay men — Montgomery Clift, Jimmy Dean, Rock Hudson — who are my colleagues, coworkers, confidantes, my closest friends, but I never thought of who they slept with! They were just the people I loved. I could never understand why they couldn’t be afforded the same rights and protections as all of the rest of us. There is no gay agenda, it’s a human agenda.
“All of us should be treated the same, and GLAAD knows that. Why shouldn’t gay people be allowed to marry? Those against gay marriages say marriage should only be between a man and a woman. God, I, of all people know that [the remainder of the sentence was inaudible due to an audience outburst]. I feel that any home where there is love constitutes a family and all families should have the same legal rights, including the right to marry and have or adopt children!
“Why shouldn’t gay people be able to live as open and freely as everybody else? What it comes down to, ultimately, is love. How can anything bad come out of love? The bad stuff comes out of mistrust, misunderstanding and, God knows, from hate and from ignorance … the bad things never came out of loving acts, loving gestures or loving relationships. That’s why I’m here tonight — to celebrate you and your families. And to tell you to hang in there and to say, once and for all of us, long live love.” Continue reading →
Oh, dear, poor Brian. In case you forgot Brian Feldman is the genuinely good guy to agreed to marry any woman who showed up to marry him. The point was to prove how stupid it is that he can marry a stranger, while gays and lesbians generally can’t marry anyone they love and live with.
Well, here’s the baby panda human interest story in this news bulletin: Brian and his non-beloved, Hannah Miller, have now had their marriage officially annulled. It seems random acts of political kindness can’t last forever.
I hope one day we can all marry anyone. But perhaps the lesson from Brian is that just because you can do something, it doesn’t mean you should!
I am sure this does happen in many democracies, and I am sorry to all my American friends and the millions of really wonderful Americans … but really, you see such nonsense in state American legislatures. It really make jaws drop in so many parts of the world. Maybe we just get to see more of it and more people understand it because it’s in English, but still.
