Marriage war to roll on

Neither side of debate prepared to take no for an answer

BOTH sides of the same-sex marriage debate will continue to campaign regardless of this week’s survey results.

On Wednesday morning the Australian Bureau of Statistics will reveal the outcome of the poll that asked 16 million Australians to vote ‘yes’ or ‘no’ about whether they supported the introduction of same-sex marriage. More than 12 million Australians took up the chance to vote in the $122 million nonbinding survey, which closed last week.

Tasmanian gay rights activist Rodney Croome, of Australian Marriage Equality, said he would continue his long campaign for equal marriage rights even if the vote came back ‘no’.

“I will continue to campaign for marriage equality because it’s about fundamental values like equality, dignity and belonging for all Australians,” he said.

“I will also work with others to ensure we find better ways to communicate the importance and urgency of marriage equality to our fellow Australian.”

But even a “yes” vote won’t allow the long-time activist to sit back and relax. “A yes vote isn’t binding on politicians so it won’t resolve the issue,” he said. “I will be working with others to convince wavering politicians to vote yes, including Liberal and Labor senators from Tasmania.

“I will also be working to ensure that whatever legislation is presented to Parliament represents the Australian people’s desire for full equality, and doesn’t enshrine new forms of discrimination under the cover of ‘religious freedom’.” The Coalition for Marriage, which is campaigning for marriage to stay the same, said it would also continue to campaign.

Spokesman Ben Smith said if the result was “yes”, the coalition would continue its campaign for religious freedom, freedom of speech and free- dom of conscience and parental rights to be protected “or even expanded”.

He said the campaign could include “encouraging Parliament to take that seriously when they’re considering legislation or amendments”.

But Mr Smith said if the result was “no”, the coalition would still campaign for better freedom of speech, religion and conscience.