Gay marriage: Atralian senate rum bate to pass same-sex marriage bill this week | — Atralia’s leadg news se

Contents:

• IS ATRALIA'S GAY MARRIAGE BATE BEG 'STIFLED'?
• HOPE AND FSTRATN ATRALIA AS GAY MARRIAGE DEBATE NEARS
• ATRALIA VOT FOR GAY MARRIAGE, CLEARG PATH TO LEGALIZATN
• GAY PARENTS BEE ACTIVISTS ATRALIAN MARRIAGE DEBATE
• GAY MARRIAGE: ATRALIAN SENATE RUM BATE TO PASS SAME-SEX MARRIAGE BILL THIS WEEK
• ATRALIA SENATOR LIVERS EMOTNAL SPEECH FOLLOWG UNTRY'S GAY MARRIAGE VOTE
• GAY MARRIAGE BATE: TONY ABBOTT URG ATRALIA TO VOTE ‘NO’

IS ATRALIA'S GAY MARRIAGE BATE BEG 'STIFLED'?

Advertisements will also need to be vetted and broadsters mt ensure opposg views are shown or heard on May, Alan Joyce, chief executive of Qantas, Atralia's natnal airle, who is gay, was ambhed durg a speech at a bs breakfast Perth by a man who threw a lemon mergue pie his face. In other untri the policians had the urage to make the cisn as elected members on behalf of the people, " explaed Vce Mchell, a profsor at the Universy of Sydney Bs ptn, Prof Vce Mchell believ the postal ballot will have a cleansg effect on AtraliaAtralia hered anti-gay laws om Brish lonisers, who arrived towards the end of the 18th Century.

HOPE AND FSTRATN ATRALIA AS GAY MARRIAGE DEBATE NEARS

Until 1949, the ath penalty remaed on the statute books for sodomy the southern state of Victoria, but bold legislative change did eventually e September 1975, when South Atralia clared that male homosexualy would no longer be a crime. In between, police arrted more than 50 people at the first Gay and Lbian Mardi Gras para Sydney Mchell believ that, although ntroversial, the postal ballot uld have a cleansg effect on a untry that ntu to harbour unease and mistst about same-sex relatnships. The anti-reform Coaln for Marriage hop to nvce the uncid that should same-sex upl be allowed to marry there would be ser nsequenc for children, who would be exposed to "radil" views on homosexualy schools.

While there are fewer and fewer rights and obligatns attached to married upl which do not attach to facto upl—a stat currently enpassg same-sex upl most legal ntexts—supporters of gay rights argue this is not enough, and that the remag differenc are unacceptable. Atralia’s vote on same-sex marriage has triggered a surprisgly toxic bate for a untry known for s laid back attu and vibrant gay and lbian non-bdg natnwi postal ballot was lnched September and rults are due on Nov 15. Homophobic attacks and hate speech have spiked while anti-gay marriage activists pla of harassment and abe, promptg parliament to pass emergency anti-hate marriage has long been a hot button issue Atralia, which only crimalized homosexualy natnwi 1997, but the current vote has turbocharged the bate.

ATRALIA VOT FOR GAY MARRIAGE, CLEARG PATH TO LEGALIZATN

Thoands of gay rights mpaigners have taken part ralli they hope will help end Atralia’s stat as one the few veloped liberal mocraci where gay upl nnot agast the move have held smaller protts, but have marshaled an imprsive — if ntroversial — TV and digal mpaign urgg Atralians to vote “No.

However, Prime Mister Mallm Turnbull’s center-right Liberal Party has a vol right wg and is aln wh the Natnal Party, which primarily reprents nservative ral though Turnbull said he personally supports gay marriage, his parliamentary majory of jt one seat meant he was unr prsure to honor an earlier promise of a plebisce ma by his precsor Tony the postal survey rult is “Y, ” Turnbull and his nservative lleagu have pledged a ee parliamentary vote on equal Atralia vot “No” the issue is highly unlikely to be revised durg the current Turnbull ernment, and possibly the next ernment should he rema power after 2019 SO BITTER?

GAY PARENTS BEE ACTIVISTS ATRALIAN MARRIAGE DEBATE

Protters hold up banners at an anti-same-sex marriage rally Sydney on September 23, Parks / AFP/Getty ImagThose agast the vote say a human right should not be put to a public ballot, and that has given a vol mory a platform to air homophobic views unr the guise of mocratic bate.

’ This has opened the door for broadly anti-LGBTQ rhetoric to be legimized as simply one si of a bate to be ‘rpected, ’” Hannah McCann, genr studi lecturer at Melbourne Universy, told NBC discsn has some rpects morphed to a wir culture war, polarizg Atralia siar ways to the Brex vote Bra and the electn of Donald Tmp the Uned is partly due to the “No” mpaign lkg gay marriage to other issu ar to nservativ an attempt to rally support. Earlier this year an ex-farmer shoved a pie to the face of Qantas airl boss and gay marriage advote Alan Joyce as he spoke to 500 people at a bs September, Abbott claimed an equal marriage activist had head-butted him, although his assailant later said the attack had nothg to do wh the outlets have reported a spate of homophobic graffi public spac, homophobic hate speech and attacks on gay rights advot and their far fewer, other reports reunt the vandalism of church by gay rights activists and harassment of “No” voters, cludg a woman who was fired for airg her NEXT? Opn polls dite the “Y” mpaign is still the lead on a high turnout, although gay rights advot are still pot to surprise nservative ws last year’s Brex vote and Tmp’s electn, and worry that placency uld prs the “Y” “Y” do w, exactly how the right for gay upl to wed will be enshred law is as yet unclear, which uld lead to further polil wranglg.

Legislatn about everythg om taxatn and employment to health-re benefs and pensn payments was changed to allow gay upl the same rights as heterosexual Atralian Human Rights Commissn hailed the amendments as an important step on the road to full equaly for same-sex upl.

GAY MARRIAGE: ATRALIAN SENATE RUM BATE TO PASS SAME-SEX MARRIAGE BILL THIS WEEK

The chang allowed "people to have digny", says Lyle Shelton, a former journalist and polil adviser who is now managg director of a Christian lobby then there has been a ph to change Atralia's marriage laws to allow same-sex upl to legally Mr Shelton says this is a step too Atralian Christian Lobby (ACL) - a grass roots movement of people who want to ject Christian ethics to natnal polics - do not want the fn of marriage to be wined to clu same-sex he claims that the views of tradnal marriage supporters have been drowned out by gay lobbyists and the source, Getty ImagImage ptn, Some people have taken to the streets llg for a change the lawMarriage is more than a romantic bond between two people, Mr Shelton told the is about brgg up children and children do bt when they have a mother and a father, he says. Gettg married AtraliaAtralia's Marriage Act specifi marriage as a unn between a man and a woman Officially, the lg Liberal-Natnal aln do not support gay marriageThe opposn Labor party endors gay marriage, but allows s MPs a nscience vote on legislatn Opn polls show a majory of poll rponnts approve of gay marriage, Rults range om about 60% for Newspoll and Essential polls held June, to 72% for a Crosby Textor poll held last is joed by several new groups cludg Marriage Alliance and the Atralian Marriage Fom who claim the natnal bate is one-sid.

'Safe haven'Another group opposed to gay marriage ran advertisements a natnal newspaper, while advertisements om a pro-gay marriage group have n on York told the BBC there was a risk some people were beg silenced about their views. "Opponents of marriage equaly pla a lot about the public not hearg their se but I thk the realy is the public hears and don't re, " Mr Croome told the source, Marriage AllianceImage ptn, The Marriage Alliance claims legalisg same-sex marriage uld be the tip of an icebergThe Alliance claims there uld be wi-rangg ramifitns om allowg gay people to marry cludg discrimatn agast bs that don't want to be volved wh gay weddgs, and same-sex relatnships beg given the same stat as oppose-sex relatnships school sex tn also argue that legalisg gay marriage would lead to more same-sex parentg and church would be forced to marry gay upl. The amendment of the feral Marriage Act on 9 December 2017 gave same-sex upl the same right to marry as heterosexual was the culmatn of s of mpaigng by the lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, tersex, queer, and asexual (LGBTIQA+) muni and their passg of the Bill the Hoe of Reprentativ was seen as a watershed moment for equal rights Atralia.

ATRALIA SENATOR LIVERS EMOTNAL SPEECH FOLLOWG UNTRY'S GAY MARRIAGE VOTE

However, was not until the May 1972 murr Alai of Dr Gee Dunn, a law lecturer and gay man, that premier, Don Dunstan, asssed that the muny mood was receptive to Dunn’s murr led to revelatns of how monplace vlence and harassment agast homosexual people Atralia’s Crimal Law (Sexual Offenc) Act, was enacted on 2 October 1975. They pot out, for stance, that homosexual upl who have been together for years often fd themselv whout the basic rights and privileg that are currently enjoyed by heterosexual upl who legally marry — om the sharg of health and pensn benefs to hospal visatn rights.

Allowg gay and lbian upl to wed, they argue, will radilly refe marriage and further weaken at a time when the stutn is already ep trouble due to high divorce rat and the signifint number of out-of-wedlock births. The Catholic Church and evangelil Christian groups have played a leadg role public opposn to gay marriage, while male Prottant church and other relig groups wrtle wh whether to orda gay clergy and perform same-sex marriage ceremoni. Ined, the ordatn and marriage of gay persons has been a growg wedge between the socially liberal and nservative wgs of the Epispal and Prbyterian church, leadg some nservative ngregatns and even whole dc to break away om their natnal church.

However, a 2006 Pew survey found that sizable majori of whe male Prottants (66%), Catholics (63%) and those whout a relig affiliatn (78%) favor allowg homosexual upl to enter to civil unns that grant most of the legal rights of marriage whout the tle. Gay Amerins have been llg for the right to marry, or at least to create more formalized relatnships, sce the 1960s, but same-sex marriage has only emerged as a natnal issue the last 15 years. The spark that started the bate me om Hawaii 1993 when the state’s Supreme Court led that an existg law banng same-sex marriage would be unnstutnal unls the state ernment uld show that had a pellg reason for discrimatg agast gay and lbian upl.

GAY MARRIAGE BATE: TONY ABBOTT URG ATRALIA TO VOTE ‘NO’

Although the bate over gay marriage for a while seemed to fa om the public eye, the issue was sudnly and dramatilly tapulted back to the headl November 2003 when the hight state urt Massachetts led that the state’s nstutn guaranteed gay and lbian upl the right to marry.

To beg wh, all the marriage licens issued to gay upl outsi of Massachetts were later nullified sce none of the mayors and other officials volved had the thory to grant marriage licens to same-sex upl.

2, 2017SYDNEY, Atralia — Unlike the Uned Stat, Canada and New Zealand, Atralia stands out as a veloped, English-speakg untry that has not legalized same-sex a new survey shows Atralian attus on the issue are rapidly changg, suggtg is Parliament that is fallg behd ternatnal peers regnizg gay 2005 to 2015, there was a shift toward the view that gay upl should have the same marriage, parentg and employment rights as heterosexual upl, acrdg to the Universy of Melbourne’s annual survey of hoehold, e and labor dynamics proportn of women supportg such rights for gay upl rose to 67 percent 2015 om 43 percent 2005. Dean Smh, an openly gay senator om the erng Liberal Party, has drafted a bill to legalize same-sex marriage, which uld be put before Parliament this spent a day around Sydney’s Oxford Street, a historilly gay area where the annual Sydney Gay and Lbian Mardi Gras is held, to speak to people the cy’s L. “A weight taken off our shoulrs, ” he thor of the cross-party bill, the Liberal senator Dean Smh, told ABC News on Thursday the passage of marriage equaly was “a measure of what n be done when people put some of their partisan polics behd” – the first openly gay feral parliamentarian the Liberal party – said the historic social reform was “owned by everyone, is owned by the Atralian people” creded advot for the “great stggle for many, many years” and said spe the public attentn on his role he was nsc that he was “lled upon the fal few steps to make this happen” attorney general, Gee Brandis, has clared that marriage equaly will be the “imperishable legacy” of Mallm Turnbull’s Liberal-Natnal Coaln the achievement of the 45th parliament may also be claimed part by the Labor opposn, which has mpaigned for a ee vote on same-sex marriage and brought s numbers to bear, wh almost all s members votg Turnbull took the prime mistership om his nservative precsor, Tony Abbott, September 2015, he retaed the Coaln’s mment to hold a natnal plebisce on same-sex marriage before changg the move was ntroversial, wh LGBTI groups objectg to a human rights qutn – equaly before the law – beg cid by popular, the Greens and other opposn parti blocked the proposed plebisce the Senate November 2016 and Augt 2017, leadg the Turnbull ernment to lnch a $100m voluntary natnal postal survey to fulfil s electn mment to give Atralians a a bisg three-month mpaign, opponents of marriage equaly claimed same-sex marriage would have far-reachg negative nsequenc for genr tn and claimed would harm relig eedom and eedom of speech.