So my survey form hasn’t arrived yet… but I did happen to look up at the right time tonight to see that the Marriage Equality Alliance has bought themselves some space on the massive outdoor digital billboards at Macquarie Centre – YAY!!!
Also, I decides to fix the No Votes propaganda yesterday. This was originally labelled “Reasons to Vote No” and just had the list:
Reasons to vote YES (in spite of any personal prejudices or false information you might have):
1 God’s law
Which applies to you if you are a follower of one of the three books (i.e. Christian, Muslim, or Jewish). If you’re one of the 30.1% of Australians who freely declared no religion (or one of the 9.6% who just didn’t answer), I guess that doesn’t apply, so feel free to vote Yes!
2 Biology
Biologically speaking, scientists who have researched same sex coupling in the more than 1,500 species in which it has been found have found even found demonstrated benefits such as increased social bonds within groups – you know those things that mean we help each other to stay alive! So a Yes vote appears to be a vote in support of our biological survival after all.
3 Natural Law
With more than 1,500 species of animal found to have same sex coupling, it does appear that homosexuality is in fact part of the natural law… so I guess you can vote Yes and be sure that you are in fact supporting the natural order of things.
4 Prevent further gender confusion
In the 21st Century, we really should be clearing up this confusion that everyone on the planet is born cis-hetero. We should also be clearing up any confusion that it’s okay to treat people who aren’t cis-hetero as anything less than what they are – fellow human beings. If voting Yes means yes to everyone being treated as human… um what’s the problem again?
5 Prevent further left wing gender hypocrisy
Just what does this even mean? Are we talking about the fact that the left has grown so tired of waiting for some to grow up, do some research and give up their prejudices that we’ve decide it’s more effective and efficient to speak up? Are we talking about the bit where on occasion some of us get so tired of witnessing bigotry and having to speak up (especially when it’s aimed at who and how a person was born) that we get annoyed that it’s still a thing in the 21st Century?
I’m sorry some of us are tired of being victims of your bigotry, but honestly it is hard work to be told day in and day out that you matter less; that some of us are somehow less of a human than a straight white cis hetero person.
If you really want others to feel less victimised (so they feel less inclined to call you out in public for being the prejudiced person you are), voting Yes goes a long way.
6 Prevent the imminent Christian persecution
Yep, Christians have totally been persecuted since they became less than the dominant religion in Australia – they can get service anywhere. In fact they are so persecuted that a minister of Ebenezer St John’s Presbyterian Church in Ballarat recently got to cancel the wedding of a (hetero) couple, simply because they support marriage equality. I mean, how dare we persecute Christians so much as to allow them to cancel a wedding just because a person believes that religion is great for the individual, but its rules shouldn’t be enforceable on the greater population.
Please don’t believe the lies you’ve been told about an impending religious persecution. Ebenezer St John’s is absolutely the case study in how the balance between rights and religion will work. This couple is still free to get married, just not in the Presbyterian Church.
Which means your Yes vote actually shows that you are secure enough in your faith to know that while it is good for you, it may not apply to others, and that’s okay!
7 Prevent our children from exposure to the topic of sex well before their time
So it turns out, that hiding the existence of sex from our kids is actually detrimental to their development of healthy relationships, and of balanced views on gender, sexuality and consent. The converse being that if we teach kids bodily autonomy from an early age, they are actually more likely to grow up to have a healthy relationship with their body and sexuality. They are also more likely to understand and practice consent.
Shouldn’t we all be doing everything we can to reduce the statistic that 1 in 3 Australian women will be the victim of sexual assault or rape in their lifetime. Seriously, look left and then look right, which do you choose to be the victim?
If voting Yes means that your kids are better equipped to grow up in a world with less sexual and domestic violence, isn’t that a good thing?
8 Prevent children from being coerced into gender confusion and or homosexuality
As previously established, homosexuality is actually quite a natural phenomenon, so I guess recognising this will lead to a lot less gender confusion and coercion to be cis and hetero – allowing kids to be who they are and not be made to feel like crap for it. Kids feeling good about themselves should be a big Yes vote.
9 Prevent homosexuality being brainwashed to us as a choice
You’re absolutely right, we should stop seeing homosexuality as a life choice, and totally see it for what it is – the way people are born. Once you do that, it becomes really easy to see why these people deserve to be treated just like everyone else, and you can vote yes!
10 Stop the attack on the family unit.
I absolutely believe we should stop attacking the family unit, in whatever form it comes. How dare we take it upon ourselves to start invalidating the family units of children who are orphans, adopted, fostered, and brought to us by IVF treatments, in the name of attacking the parents of kids who live in same sex households. Kids should be off limits. It really is quite arrogant, and I think we should stamp it out firmly with a Yes vote.
Vote Yes because orphans have grown up fine. Vote Yes because adopted kids grow up in loving households, because foster parents are literally life-savers, and because IVF is not an evil practise. Vote Yes because those kids raised in same sex households didn’t all turn out to be murders, paedophiles, rapists, etc. They turned out like the rest of us, a little messed ups (mostly from the bullying of kids from hetero-household), but mostly intact.
