Democracy best, despite result
SAME-SEX MARRIAGE
WELL, by all accounts from the latest same-sex marriage polls, it would seem that more than 60 per cent of Australians are now atheists and voting “Yes”.
It is rather sad that we have descended so far down this line. But at least we must defend the Prime Minister for sticking to his guns and being prepared to risk all by standing by his promise to Australia to give us a democratic vote on this issue. And I think that having the ability to practise democracy at this level and on this issue is one of the defining qualities that makes Australia great.
Learn to accept
IT saddens me that so many people have difficulty accepting difference in others. After all, it’d be pretty boring if everyone was the same, wouldn’t it? Some of us are tall, some short, some are slender, some stout, some like wild parties, others prefer solitude, some can sing well, others can’t, some are male, some are female (with variations there) and some people are sexually attracted to people of their own gender.
During my upbringing in a religious household, I was taught that somewhere up in the sky there is an all-powerful deity who controls everything and loves us all, from which it follows that this being must be responsible for the presence of all these variations. So why do so many religious people vilify homosexual people?
My concern is that people should be happy and free from the abuse that is still coming from those like the mainland caller to ABC radio who praised Hitler for his treatment of “such people”. People are not dangerous just because they are differ- ent, and my wife of nearly 50 years and I cannot imagine any way in which same-sex couples marrying is going to affect us — or anyone else. As for the possible effects on children with same-sex parents, the vast majority of child abuse occurs in heterosexual relationships, a fact that is usually blithely (and hypocritically) ignored.
Ugly message
A CHRISTIAN church in Melbourne has been vandalised and defaced by the words “Crucify the No voters” sprayed in black paint. May I dare to use the near last words of Jesus Christ as he endured crucifixion until death and cried out: “Father forgive them for they know not what they do”. Tolerance?
Union of difference
CATH Hughes calls for “intellectual rigour” in the marriage debate (Letters, October 13). Evidently, she believes that the human brain has a natural design and function which should be respected. Likewise, a man’s body and a woman’s body have a complementary natural design, which benefits society by procreating new life. Marriage is the union of two different things, not two of the same thing.
Equal already
SINCE 2004, LGBTIQ couples have been able to register their relationships in Tas- A new way to have your say themercury.com.au readers have a new way to have their say. It’s free to use, just register and have your say. For more details and to register, visit the website. mania, and they have had full legal equality with all other couples in our nation since 2008. Had LGBTIQ activists spent one-thousandth of the time and money they have spent advocating for the redefinition of marriage in informing our community of this, the regrettable incidents to which Susan Fahey refers (Letters, October 9) would not have happened.
Not second-rate
IN reply to Maree Triffett (“Gender worries”, Letters, October 16), it is poorly informed individuals such as her who further myths about the transgender community, a community I am openly and proudly a member of.
Blatant transphobia, often poorly disguised as “free speech”, leads to the suicide of hundreds of transgender individuals around the world each year. How would you like to be made to feel that you are a second-rate citizen just because your brain and your body went separate ways when you were still in the womb? And how on earth is a pregnant male on the other side of the world doing you any harm other than forcing your eyes to open to the fact that the gender binary is an outdated concept that will hopefully be forgotten in the next century or so?
I can’t wait to be a father who will be open with his children about his gender identity and will raise them to be compassionate, open-minded and to treat every human with the same amount of respect, even those who spit myths about their father’s community.
World-class blunder
OF the world wonders, the Great Barrier Reef is clearly visible from space. Of world blunders, Tasmania surrounded by fish pens will also be clearly observed from space. Clean green won’t be seen. Nor will current politicians.
Statue status
I NOTE the reference by Alison Alexander to the statues of women on the Hobart waterfront, and her musing as to them being the first statues of women in Hobart (Letters, October 17). I fear (and cautiously predict) the parochials up North will be forthcoming with a claim that they already have them. And, I would expect that those on a Launceston waterfront would be naturally more statue-esk?
Bus better with windows
IT was a pleasant surprise to see a Metro bus with clear windows that had all-round visibility, instead of that stupid advertising that makes buses look dreary.
Devilishly difficult language
MICHAEL McCall’s comments on the difficulty migrants face with English were spot on (Letters, October 16). Try working out how to pronounce my name. Is the correct guide rough, cough, bough, though, through, ought, borough? The answer — none of the above. The first syllable is pronounced “lock”.