Carl Katter distances himself from his politician brother

Carl Katter, half-brother to independent Senator Bob Katter, expressed his concern that his brother has spoken out scornfully on the issue of marriage equality.

"I don't know how he can target a minority and persecute them, in the way he has," Carl Katter said on Network Ten's 6.30 program.  "It's hurtful, it's dangerous, it's damaging... His gross generalisations are inappropriate in today's society, " he told host George Negus. "I don't understand his motives."

Conservative Christians fight back...

Responding to surveys suggesting that suggest that 53% of people identifying as Christian support same-sex marriage, a large group of church leaders are lobbying Federal politicians not to change the Marriage Act.

These leaders include the Anglican Archbishop of Sydney Peter Jensen, the Catholic Archbishop of Sydney George Pell, Lutheran Church president Mike Semmler, Orthodox Archbishop of Australia Paul Sliba, Salvation Army commissioner Raymond Finger and Presbyterian moderator-general David Jones.

MPs were due to report report to parliament today on their consultations with constituents to gauge support for same-sex marriage.  Support -- and opposition -- was noted from all sides.

Catholic Labor MP Graham Perrett said he supported a change to recognise gay marriage because it would protect young gay people from abuse.  Mr Perrett has two gay brothers.  He said his Catholic faith was a “private matter” and he had no qualms about speaking out in support of gay marriage.

Just whom does the Australian Christian Lobby represent?

If a recent opinion poll is anything to go by, a majority of Australian Christians believe same-sex couples should be allowed to marry.


A Galaxy Research poll, released 16 August, found that 53% of Australians who identify as Christians support same-sex marriage, while 41% oppose.  67% of non-Christians support it.

A spokesperson for Australian Marriage Equality, Malcolm McPherson, himself a Christian, says the poll shows church leaders and Christian lobbyists who oppose same-sex marriage are not representative. 

The website Same Same reports on number of mainstream Christian ministers who have spoken out in favour of the reform.  See their full report at  http://www.samesame.com.au/

“Christian groups that oppose marriage equality like the Australian Christian Lobby are entitled to their view, but they do not represent the majority of Australian Christians”, McPherson said.  “Clearly, most Australian Christians believe same-sex marriage is consistent with Christian values like justice, love, compassion and fidelity, not opposed to these values.”

SameSame reports that Christian leaders who have given their support to the campaign come from Uniting, Anglican and Baptist churches across Australia, and include Sydney minister and 2GB radio host Rev Bill Crews, who emphasised the distinction between religious and civil marriages in their report:

“In a secular and non discriminatory society gay couples should be as free to marry as any other human couple. If people wish to be married within a religious or spiritual institution’s framework then they should accept the rites and rules of that institution. However it is the state that legitimises all marriages.”

SameSame also quotes Melbourne Baptist Pastor Matt Glover, who says allowing same-sex marriages will benefit marriage as an institution:


“As a Christian minister, I believe that marriage is under threat from many angles, but also believe that recognizing same-sex unions will help return marriage to its rightful place in society.”

Another Baptist Minister, Rev. Nathan Nettleton of South Yarra, has contributed a substantial chapter to Speak Now titled: "Supporting Same-Sex Marriage as a heterosexual, Bible-believing Baptist Pastor." 

After his recent appearance on ABC TV's program Compass, Rev. Nettleton was asked to state that although he is an ordained Baptist pastor, the opinions expressed were his personal views and were not seeking to represent the official position of any union of Baptist churches, or the majority opinion of Baptist people.

The group of Christian clergy known as Christians 4 Equality have now joine the Unitarians, Quakers, and the Metroplitan Community Church in publicly supporting same-sex marriage in Australia.

The Rabbinic Council of Progressive Rabbis of Australasia put their support for same-sex marriage on the record back in June.

However, the Australian Christian Lobby, which organised the rally in Canberra,  has dismissed the poll results as absurd.

"Certainly my work with Evangelical, Catholic and Orthodox churches leaves me in no doubt that the great majority of their adherents don't support same-sex marriage," said Mr Wallace, the Lobby's Managing Director.

"I think a simple additional question on the poll that determined if the person actually attended a church might have made the result more informative," he said.

The Australian Greens responded to the poll results saying it gives a real reflection of the views of the Christian community.

"This poll confirms what we have known for some time - most Christians, like other everyday Australians, have no objection to marriage equality and believe that same-sex couples should have the same rights as heterosexual couples," the Greens' spokesperson for sexual orientation and gender identity, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, said.

"All too often, we hear from a narrow section of the community, who beat the drum loudly against equality for same-sex couples and in doing so claim to represent the views of all Australian Christians.

"Over several years, I have been contacted by many Christians in strong support of marriage equality - mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers who believe in treating all people with dignity and respect. Indeed many Christian leaders have been pushing this reform for some time." 

Listen to Parliamentary debate

You can listen to the audio file of parliamentary debate on a motion by the Greens Member of the House, Adam Bandt (from November 15, 2010) after Bandt had called on parliamentarians so seek out the views of their constituents on marriage equality for same-sex partners, here:

http://australianpolitics.com/2010/11/15/house-of-representatives-debates-gay-marriage-resolution.html

Bandt's motion read, "That this House:

          (1) notes there is:
                   (a) a growing list of countries that allow same-sex couples to marry including the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, SPain, Canada and South Africa; and

         (b) widespread support for equal marriage in the Australian community; and

(2) calls on all parliamentarians to gauge their constituents’ views on the issue of marriage equality.

Two of our contributors 'Speak Now'

In response to the rally against same-sex marriage staged in Canberra, two contributors to Speak Now were quoted in news reporting of the event.

Rodney Croome, speaking on behalf of the group Australian Marriage Equality, asserted that the offensive rhetoric used by protestors had no place in any debate on same-sex marriage, saying: "The Australian Christian Lobby, which often complains about opponents of same-sex marriage being ridiculed and demonised, must show it is sincere about a mature debate by distancing itself from the offensive comments made today."

Paul Martin, a Queensland psychologist who specialises in the mental health of gay and lesbian people, also found the comments damaging: "Prejudice and ridicule damage the mental health of young same-sex attracted people and the last thing they need to hear are these kind of offensive comments from people who purport to represent 'family values'."

Their comments were taken from an AAP story reported in the Sydney Morning Herald 16 Aug 2011.

Paul Martin writes about the toxic effects of shaming in his chapter in Speak Now, which is titled: "Gathering the Pieces." 

In his piece "A History of Freedom to Marry in Australia", Rodney Croome links the current struggle to earlier historical government controls over who could marry whom, arguing that infringement of the freedom to marry is part of a broader ideological project in which marriage is manipulated to discriminatory, ideological ends.

A week of contrasts

9th August 2011
Federal Finance Minister Penny Wong released a statement that her long-term partner Sophie Allouache was expected to give birth in December after falling pregnant through IVF.


13th August 2011
The Sydney Morning Herald published the results of an opinion poll which asked: "Should same-sex marriages be recognised in Australia.  Their pie chart showed 66.6% of respondents were in favour, saying YES;  28.3% said NO; 5.1%  didn't know.

16th August 2011
Bob Katter,  Independent MP, was one of several federal representatives, including Nationals Senate leader Barnaby Joyce, who spoke at a rally organised by the Australian Christian Lobby and the Australian Family Association. The event was staged at Parliament House in Canberra to raise support for a campaign against marriage equality for same-sex partners. Katter auctioned off his cowboy hat, raising $2700 towards the campaign. "Truly this proposition deserves to be laughed at and ridiculed," he said.

40 + years after the Stonewall riots, New York State finally changes the law

New York, New York !

Professor Kerryn Phelps, AM

The scenes outside the Stonewall Inn after the announcement that the New York Senate had passed the legislation to enable marriage equality could have not been more different from the riot that gave Stonewall its reputation as the epicentre of the gay rights movement, back on 27 June 1969… Jubilation, tears of joy and relief, marriage proposals, the crowd spontaneously breaking into choruses of ‘New York, New York’.

Watching it on Twitter and YouTube provided a sense of immediacy, but I have never before wanted so much to be there in New York City to experience first hand such a moment in history. Back in Australia, and ironically, this weekend yet another ALP State conference defied the bloody-minded rhetoric of its Federal leader to vote in support of marriage equality. How on earth Australia's Prime Minister could possibly continue to mouth those offensive and divisive words about marriage being ‘between a man and a woman’ is beyond my comprehension. Someone needs to take her aside and tell her that the first rule of leadership is to be worthy of following, and the second rule of leadership is to check behind you to see if anyone is actually following you.

Poll after poll shows that Australians are ready for this fundamental injustice to be rectified. Polling shows 75 percent of Australians believe it is inevitable. Every state ALP branch that has been given the opportunity to vote on this has voted in support of marriage equality. So in this supposed democracy, Julia Gillard does not seem to care that she is completely at odds with the majority of people and her own party, by whose grace she occupies the top office.

In many respects Julia Gillard seems to have deliberately isolated herself from reality on this issue. She has regularly met with minority, right wing, religious fundamentalists opposing marriage equality, while steadfastly refusing any requests to meet with organisations or individuals supporting change and the majority view. Her response to the New York announcement was cringeworthy. The contrast with recent statesmanlike speeches by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg could not be more stark.

If the problem is that she does not want to be seen to change from the view she expressed during the election campaign, then the carbon tax backflip should be precedent enough to allow a rethink. If you want an example of an intelligent and courageous change of heart, look no further than the Catholic and Republican New York Senator Mark Grisanti on the floor of the house as he voted in the affirmative.

I have it on good authority that Prime Ministerial staffers were directly involved in making sure there was no quorum for the vote on gay marriage at the Victorian ALP conference, ensuring that the vote could not go ahead. They were also active on the phones trying to stop GetUp from bidding on the mid-Winter charity auction for dinner with the PM. As the social media would put it, WTF?

Apparently dining with same sex couples was not going to be an acceptable winning bid for ‘our’ PM. The problem is, stumping up $31,000 had proven to be the only way there was going to be any access for marriage equality advocates, access provided regularly and free of charge to its opponents.

This is not just about marriage equality. Electors are savvy enough to extrapolate the handling of this social justice issue to broader matters of government responsibility, trust and democratic representation.

The drive to achieve marriage equality is not going to go away. It cuts to the very emotional heart of a person not to have their primary love relationship recognised and respected as equal to those that differ only in the gender of the partner. On a practical level it is just not okay for same sex couples and our children to be denied the legal protections that are automatically conferred if your partner has a different gender.

Julia Gillard, the time has come to behave like a true leader of a democracy. Allow democratic processes to proceed unhindered. Listen to your political colleagues. Look at the opinion polls. You have no mandate for your position, either within your party or conferred by the Australian people. And check behind you to see whether the people who inadvertently elected you to lead the country are behind you. Most are them, as you would be aware, are not.

I was born in Australia. I grew up here. I love this country. But today, I think I will fantasize for a moment how it feels to be a New Yorker.