Reason in favour of Gay Marriage #7:

Same Sex Marriage should be legalised because
AUSTRALIA NEEDS TO GET WITH THE PROGRAM.

Argument in favour of Gay Marriage:

With more than 20 countries (many of them European), and even New Zealand, allowing same sex couples to marry, Australia’s reluctance to join this illustrious group of open-minded and progressive nations is embarrassing, to say the least.

The Facts:

Whilst the gay lobby likes to flaunt the number of countries who’ve legalised same sex marriage, what’s almost never heard is the countries who have recently banned it. Consider the following.

– Less than two years ago, Croatia held a referendum in which two-thirds of voters approved changes to Croatia’s constitution to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman*. Was that widely reported in Australian media?

– Less than two months ago, Austria’s national assembly voted 110-26 against same sex marriage**. Did that make front page news?

– Less than two weeks ago, an anti-gay petition in Finland gathered enough signatures to force the parliament to debate the reversal of the country’s gender-neutral marriage law.# Who was covering that story from Australia?

– Last month, the UN Human Rights Council voted 29-14 in favour of preserving a traditional definition of ‘family’ and rejected an amendment which sought to recognise “that in different cultural, political and social systems, various forms of the family exist”. ## This Resolution on the Protection of the Family reaffirmed “that the family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State”. Was that on prime time news?

*Croatians back same-sex marriage ban in referendum (BBC, 2 December 2013, accessed on 31 July 2015)
http://goo.gl/Q4jdo1

**Austria votes against gay marriage (Gay Star News, 19 June 2015, accessed on 31 July 2015)
http://goo.gl/WbHR1P

#Petition forces Finland’s parliament to debate reversing same-sex marriage (Pink News, 19 July 2015, accessed on 31 July 2015)
http://goo.gl/lSajJg

##SRI Condemns HRC29 Resolution on “Protection of the Family” (Sexual Rights Initiative, 6 July 2015, accessed on 02 August 2015)
http://goo.gl/yL6Qfs

The Real Issues:

There is a very powerful media lobby that does not want to present both sides of the story regarding same sex marriage. Instead, it highlights only those stories that further its own agenda e.g. legalisation of same sex marriage in Ireland and USA. Seen this way, Australia does seem to be lagging behind its counterparts. But when you consider the picture in its entirety, there are other counterparts who share Australia’s current position on the matter. In other words, Australia is not alone, neither is she lagging behind. She stands with the majority of nations against this campaign.

To frame the debate in terms of “getting with the program” is to perpetrate a racist idea that some nations are somehow superior to others simply because of the way they think on matters of sexuality. It is to erroneously imply that somehow Canada and Ireland are morally superior to Austria and Japan, or that America and England are morally superior to China and Croatia.

Conclusion:

At the moment, there are 195 nations on planet earth. Of these, about 22 have allowed same sex couples to marry through one provision or the other. So if only around 11% of planet favours same sex marriage, in what way is Australia lagging behind? In what way is Australia “behind the times”? Clearly, Australia does not need to get with the program. Because the vast majority of nations are pushing back on the gay lobby.

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