Churches divided on same-sex marriage

While the Rev. Alistair McRae, who is President of the National Assembly of the Uniting Church of Australia equivocated on the issue of same-sex marriage on ABC RN yesterday,  Rev. Harry Herbert penned a strong op-ed article strongly supporting the cause, published in today's National Times. (Herbert is Exec. Director of Uniting Care NSW/ACT.) 

Alistair McRae was interviewed on RN's vigorous new Religion and Ethics program, presented by Adam West, and the full report can be accessed at the website:

http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/religionandethicsreport/same-sex-marriage-and-the-challenge-to-the-churches/3832116

Harry Herbert's opinion piece can be accessed here:

http://www.nationaltimes.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/church-misses-big-picture-on-samesex-marriage-20120213-1t1jr.html

SPEAK NOW carries other strong articles in favour of same-sex marriage by a Baptist pastor in Melbourne, Rev. Nathan Nettleton, and retired Uniting Church luminary, Rev. Dorothy McRae McMahon. Nettleton, who had previously testified before a Senate inquiry into changing the marriage laws, was thereafter required by church higher-ups to offer the disclaimer that his vews did not represent the Baptist church.

Last December,  Matt Glover, the Lilydale (Victoria) Baptist pastor who had expressed support for gay marriage, was sacked at a secret church meeting to which he was not invited. The Lilydale church office confirmed to The Age newspaper that Mr Glover was no longer senior pastor, but said the congregation had been instructed to remain silent.

RN's Adam West also interviewed New Zealander Rev. Dr. David Clarke, a Presbyterian minister newly elected to Parliament across the Tasman, about his 'left-wing' Christianity and his officiating at a ceremony honouring a same-sex union for NZ Labor's Deputy Leader, Grant Robertson.

We might well ask: if all of these folk claim to be interpeting the will of God, which side is this 'God' on, and whose version of deity rules public discourse? Will there soon be as many deities in the so-called Christian West as there were in ancient India? The whole matter of seeking to know the will of God is fraught with difficulty; to want to impose that version on the rest of the population is, too.

Franciscan friar Richard Rohr once said in another radio interview for RN: 'When religion doesn't move to what I call the mystical level, almost always the substitution for mysticism is morality.' (Religion Report, ABC RN, 15 Nov., 2006). Rohr used the term 'mysticism' simply to mean moving 'beyond external belief systems to inner experience'. Whether relying on the contradictory record of ancient texts as their yardstick, or listening to their so-called consciences, why is it that sincere men and women, using whatever means of communication with their deities, come up with such different rulings?

Neither of the bills to be debated in Canberra in the coming months requires ministers of religion to conduct same-sex marriages in their churches were the Marriage Act to be amended. Trying to impose wildly differing worldviews on the rest of us is eerily reminiscent of the diktats of fundamentalists in conservative religious societies where women are veiled and homosexuals executed.  This is not appropriate for a secular, multicultural society, such as Australia, where religious beliefs and practices are respected but remain, by law, a matter of choice.

Two politicians SPEAK NOW in the House

As Washington State's Governor signed same-sex marriage into law in the U.S., not one but TWO separate Bills were introduced in federal parliament in Canberra on Monday.

The first of these was from the Australian Greens member of the lower house, Adam Bandt, with the support of independent member Andrew Wilkie. 

Labor's Stephen Jones introduced a similar private member's Bill. What this double-barrelled approach will achieve is not clear at this stage.

Aware of opposition from church groups, the Jones version states that ministers of religion would be under no obligation "to solemnise a marriage where the parties to that marriage are of the same sex''.

"This provision will ensure that the principles of religion and religious freedom is maintained when it comes to the laws of marriage in Australia,'' Mr Jones said.

Wilkie also moved a motion asking politicians to make sure that any amendments to the Marriage Act would not force churches to marry same-sex couples, so both Bills contain these protections for the faithful. 

Debate was adjourned after the tabling of the bills and it could be months before they are debated in Parliament.

A week ago, the Greens announced they will move for a Senate inquiry into marriage equality, to investigate Senator Sarah Hanson-Young’s 2010 Bill. Gay News Network reports that marriage equality advocates have welcomed the move as a means to help build up support on the issue before a private member’s bill on marriage equality is voted on by MPs later in the year.

Speaking to reporters in Canberra, Hanson-Young said that there was a good chance that Australians would be celebrating marriage equality by the end of 2012.

“We know that there are some people who still don’t understand or don’t agree with the idea of removing this type of discrimination,” Hanson-Young said. “I am absolutely optimistic that we have a very good chance by the end of this year to be able to look back and say, ‘We did it’.”

National spokesperson for Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, Shelley Argent, said the inquiry would provide an opportunity for the “many thousands” of parents of gay sons and daughters to have their voices  heard. Argent urges people interested in supporting the Senate hearing to make submissions by April 2nd.

Those people wishing to take the simplest option may forward their letters and statements of support through PFLAG.

E-mail:  pflagbris@bigpond.com

Submissions can be quite simple, stating why equality is so important to you, and you need to include name and address.

“We can give our children everything they need in life, but only the Government can give them equality,” Argent said.

Meanwhile, on Valentine's Day, comedian Magda Szubanski has come out passionately in support of the cause, outing herself in the process.

SPEAK NOW to protest the 'gay panic' defence in Queensland

“Yeah, I killed him, but he did worse to me.” These are the words of a man who reacted to some “gentle touching” from a gay man by ramming his victim’s head against a wall until he was unrecognisable, and then stabbing him to death [1]. 

This infamous 1997 case enshrined the “gay panic” defence in Queensland law -- allowing accused murderers to have charges downgraded if their victim was gay and “came onto” them. Just two years ago, a man was brutally killed in Father Paul Kelly’s church yard, and his killers used this same defence. They were subsequently acquitted of murder [2].

Father Kelly was horrified that this argument was even allowed in court, and wrote to the government along with thousands of others -- they didn’t respond. But with the Liberal National Party likely to win power in the March state election, there’s new hope. Father Kelly has started a Change.org petition calling on LNP leader Campbell Newman to abolish the law if he’s elected, and insiders say the party is already wavering.

If 10,000 people sign Father Kelly’s petition, his local member and senior LNP member Ted Sorensen has promised to take it to Parliament. Sign the petition now at http://www.change.org/petitions/eliminate-the-gay-panic-defence-from-queensland-law-gaypanic

A recent study named Queensland as Australia’s most homophobic state, and anti-gay violence is reportedly on the rise [3]. Laws like the “gay panic” defence are a crucial part of legitimising and reinforcing a culture which means that 73% of gay and lesbian Queenslanders are subjected to verbal abuse or physical violence for their sexuality [4]. 

While fierce community opposition has convinced almost all other state governments to abolish similar laws, the outcry has fallen on deaf ears in Queensland. It’s now one of the last states upholding the idea that a person can be panicked enough by gay and lesbian people to justify murder. Thousands like Father Kelly are fed up with the inaction -- it’s the perfect moment for Newman to take a stand and promise to deliver where the current government has failed.

This could be the best chance Queensland will have for years to fix what law expert Alan Berman calls a “repulsive and dangerous partial defence”. If thousands of people speak out now, it will force Newman to commit to closing the loophole -- and take meaningful steps towards reducing discrimination and violence towards gay and lesbian people in Queensland. 

Stand with Father Kelly and tell Campbell Newman this outdated “gay panic” law has no place in a modern society.

Thanks for being part of this,

Nathan and the Change. org team

[1] Courier Mail, “Law says it's not murder if the victim is gay and "comes on to you"

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/opinion/better-laws-needed-to-protect-gays/story-e6frerdf-1226160221310

[2] Brisbane Times, “Men jailed over churchyard 'homosexual' bashing death”

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/men-jailed-over-churchyard-homosexual-bashing-death-20100513-v099.html  

[3] Anti-gay violence on the rise

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/queensland/gay-men-targets-of-violence/2008/11/02/1225560616212.html

Queensland Australia’s most homophobic state

http://www.glhv.org.au/files/aust_inst_homophobia_paper.pdf 

[4] Dr Alan Berman, legal expert and co-author of a study into homophobic violence in Queensland http://lgbtlawblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/homophobic-violence-in-queensland.html

Change.org is an online advocacy platform that empowers anyone, anywhere to start, join, and win campaigns for social change. Millions of people sign petitions on Change.org each month on thousands of issues, winning campaigns every day to advance change locally and globally.

Alex Greenwich SPEAKS NOW

Alex Greenwich, the National Convenor of the very effective lobby group, Australian Marriage Equality, has drawn attention to the successes achieved during the campaign of 2011.  He also recommends some courses of action we can take to keeping this issue alive...

Thank you for your support throughout 2011, together we have achieved the following:

1. Changed the ALP Platform to support marriage equality
2. Gained the Tasmanian and ACT Government's endorsement of Marriage equality
3. Had same-sex marriages counted and recognisged in the Census for the first time

4. CNIs being issued to same-sex couples wishing to marry overseas

As this unstoppable momentum continues into the new year we now need to help Coalition MPs wo open their hearts and minds to the importance of marriage equality.

 

We know Coalition leaders like Barry O'Farrell, Barnaby Joyce, Malcolm Turnbull and SA Leader Isobel Redmond all want MPs in their party to be allowed a conscience vote to reflect the strong public support for marriage equality. 

Shortly we will be announcing our exciting plans for 2012, but in the mean-time follow the below links to help make a difference now:

1. Sign the petition calling on Tony Abbott to allow a conscience vote
2. Contact Tony Abbott and Julie Bishop directly and request the coalition grants a conscience vote

3. Email all your MPs and Senators asking them to support reform.

We will enter the new year confident that we have the support of a majority of Australians and progress on our side!

Thanks you for your continued support,

 

Alex Greenwich

Rodney Croome SPEAKS NOW...

Rodney Croome, leading rights activist and contributor to SPEAK NOW, comments on the recent political developments...

MAKING HISTORY

 

There was a mixed outcome from Saturday’s Labor National Conference debate on marriage equality.

 

On the one hand the Labor Party made history by adopting a policy in favour of allowing same-sex marriage.

 

This is a first for a major Australian political party and reversed the party’s anti-equality position adopted only seven years ago.

 

But the ALP also voted to give Labor members the right to vote against that policy should their conscience compel them to.

 

With Labor holding a wafer-thin majority in Parliament this means a marriage equality has no chance unless the Coalition also allows a conscience vote.

 

The 10,000-strong rally that converged on the Conference after the vote wasn’t sure to cheer or boo, so it did both.

 

But if there is one unambiguous message from the Conference it is that the campaign for marriage equality is working.

 

Up until the last election there was only a handful of Labor MPs willing to back marriage equality.

 

Fifteen months later it is supported by all but one state Labor leader, all but one state Labor conference, two state Labor governments, most federal Labor ministers, and now the Labor National Conference.

 

Even a conscience vote is, in its own way, a success.

 

Until just a few months ago a national civil union scheme was the preferred fall-back position for many Labor decision-makers.

 

But that option would have cut off progress on marriage equality, whereas a conscience vote at least provides a way forward.

 

Beneath these changes lies a more fundamental shift in community attitudes, with support for marriage equality rising from 38% in 2004 to 65% today.

 

All these rapid and important changes come down to the effectiveness of the marriage equality movement.

 

What makes it so effective is

 

a)     its emphasis on the power of personal stories in changing the hearts and minds of those conflicted about marriage equality (the popular It’s Time Get Up ad encapsulates this)

b)    its use of social media to translate popular support for reform into letter-writing and petitioning campaigns that, for the first time in Australia, are bigger than those organised by the churches

c)     its achievements of small but encouraging victories along the way (eg counting same-sex married couples in the Census and removing the ban on the documents same-sex couples need to marry overseas)

d)    its ability to learn from the mistakes of campaigns overseas (for example, not allowing civil unions to become an acceptable substitute for marriage equality)

e)     its cooperative and cohesive spirit when compared to many of the fractious and divided marriage equality movements in other countries

 

There are many challenges ahead for marriage equality supporters.

 

It is uncertain if Tony Abbott will allow a conscience vote, and even if he does, it is uncertain if there are the numbers for marriage equality to pass.

 

The issue may require more than one vote to pass, as was the case in New York earlier this year.

 

But if the ALP National Conference tells us anything it is that we are on the right track.

 

Our campaigning has made marriage equality possible, and in the minds of many, inevitable. The next step is to make it happen.

 

Rodney Croome is the Campaign Director of Australian Marriage Equality

To find out more about AME go to wwwaustralianmarriagequality.com

ALP changes its policy, but...

At the ALP's national conference on Saturday Dec. 3rd, Party delegates endorsed, on voices, an amendment to the party's platform to amend the Marriage Act and allow gay and lesbian people to marry their same-sex partners.

However, following Prime MInister Julia Gillard's lead, they voted 208 to 184 in favour of her motion  to allow state and federal MPs a conscience vote on gay marriage, meaning that if a Bill is introduced into Federal Parliament, representatives will not be bound by Party policy, but will be free to vote according to their own lights.

How much is an individual's conscience a reliable guide to legislating other peoples' rights?

As John Faulkner said, governments don't grant human rights, they recognise them. To give such a matter over to a conscience vote is unconscionable.

ACT Deputy Chief Minister Andrew Barr, a contributor to SPEAK NOW,  moved the motion to change the platform and, according to The Sydney Morning Herald, he received a standing ovation as he put the 'yes' case.  'We deserve the respect and the dignity afforded to others,' he said. 'We deserve equality.'

Joe de Bruyn of the Right faction re-asserted the definition of marriage as 'the union of one man and one woman, voluntarily entered into for life', claiming that that 'It has always been that way since the dawn of humanity.'

On another issue, Julia Gillard also held sway and successfully argued that the Labor Party should lift its ban on uranium sales to India!

SPEAK NOW for Marriage Equality

Australian Marriage Equality rally on Saturday 3rd Dec., from 12 noon, in Sydney's Hyde Park.

The rally, which has the support of the City of Sydney, will move from Hyde Park North to the Convention Centre at Darling Harbour. 

It's a critical time to speak up; after months of lobbying, the long-awaited National Conference of the ALP is poised to consider either adopting a binding policy in favour of equality or, following the lead of the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, to permit politicians to vote according to their conscience on this issue. 

As Tim Wright has written in his contribution to SPEAK NOW:

   Julia Gillard’s ascension to the Labor Party leadership in June 2010 briefly raised hopes that reform to the Marriage Act was finally within our grasp. A declared atheist and (at least nominally) a member of the party’s left faction, she has the pedigree of a marriage equality supporter. Indeed, in 2006, she launched a book that I edited titled Time for Change: Australia in the 21^st Century, which rejected many of the Howard Government’s policies, including its opposition to same-sex marriage. But it was not to be. The new prime minister declared her support for the ‘traditional’ definition of marriage shortly after assuming the top job, which bewildered progressives and would plague her during the August election campaign.

It became apparent during that campaign that Ms. Gillard was not prepared  to 'move forward' (her election slogan) on marriage equality, content instead to position Australia to the rear of advanced nations such as the Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Spain, Portugal, South Africa, Mexico, Argentina, and recently, Brazil, as well as some states in the U.S. (Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, Iowa, D.C., New York) all of which have changed their relevant laws to allow equality.  Since that time Ms. Gillard has relied heavily on the plank in the Party platform that privileges opposite sex partnerships and the Australian Christian Lobby continues to run a fearful campaign to defend the conventional arrangement.

You can e-mail your Federal Labor rep. through this site: http://www.australianmarriageequality.com/laborconference