In all the light and heat generated by the British Parliament’s same-sex marriage vote, it was the bellowing rhetoric of MP Roger Gale that stuck out, to me, the most.
Gale howled down Prime Minister David Cameron’s new legislation, saying allowing same sex couples to marry was “Orwellian” in its attempt to “rewrite the lexicon”.
He also dubbed it “Alice in Wonderland territory”.
Clearly Gale is a lover of classic, historical literature, but you do wonder where he’s been.
Because in contemporary Britain, just like in contemporary Australia and America, no matter how much some nostalgics may wish it wasn’t so, the “lexicon” of society is not written in stone. It is being written and re-written as we go.