The following piece was written by AME Campaign Director, Rodney Croome, and first appeared on the Gay News Network.
for AME’s press release following the meeting with Prime Minister Julia Gillard.
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Why did Julia Gillard decide to meet marriage equality advocates, including myself, two weeks ago?
One reason is she seemed genuinely interested to hear our arguments, including Paul Martin’s case about mental health and Shelley Argent’s about family.
But she also wanted to explain her position to us.
This is understandable given the nation has been scratching its head over an unmarried atheist female PM who cites “religious tradition” and her “conservative upbringing” to justify her opposition to same-sex equality.
She talked about divisions in the Labor Party.
I assume this was a reference to those Labor MPs in whom conservative Catholic values are galvanised by union discipline into an almost robotic opposition to equality.
My reply about marriage equality being a historic opportunity to mobilise the Party base, unite the Party behind a common vision and leave a legacy, entirely failed to siege that bastion.
The tragedy of Australian Labor is that so many opportunities to unite the nation behind it are seen only as challenges to be avoided.
The Prime Minister also talked about her critique of marriage as an institution, shaped by the feminist values she acquired while at University.
This is a left-wing version of her right-wing “conservative up-bringing” argument, and one that was impermeable to Kerry Phelps and Jackie Stricker-Phelps cogent pro-choice case.
The silver lining of Julia Gillard’s “shaped-by-the-past” views on marriage is that she is leaving room for these views to evolve like Barack Obama says his are.
But for now the best she seems able to offer is along the lines of “don’t take my opposition to same-sex marriage personally”.
This was re-inforced by the most positive but also the most tragic thing she said.
The Prime Minister stressed that she does not consider same-sex relationships to be any different to her own relationship, and that she values our relationships as much as others.
No Australian Prime Minister has ever said this before.
It sends an immensely up-lifting message to same-sex attracted Australians.
Or at least it would if it didn’t beg the obvious question; why, then, can’t we marry?