Campaign hits TV screens as Australian same-sex marriage vote looms

SYDNEY: The first public campaigns ahead of Australia’s vote on legalising same- sex marriage have hit television screens, sparking a truth-inadvertising debate on an issue that threatens to destabilise the ruling centre-right coalition.

Australians can take part in a non- binding postal ballot in September on whether to change the Marriage Act to allow samesex couples to marry. The process will inform the government on whether to pursue legislative change and join 24 other countries around the world where it is legal.

The ‘ no’ and ‘ yes’ campaigns launched their first television adverts on Tuesday and yesterday, drawing immediate rebukes from their rivals. The ‘ no’ campaign linked same- sex marriage to paving the way for radical gender study programmes to be introduced in schools.

Lyle Shelton, the head of the Australian Christian Lobby and spokesman for Coalition for Marriage, cited a case in Canada, and another in Britain.

“Look at the UK where a Jewish school in London faced the prospect of closure because it won’t teach radical LGBTIQ education,” he told Reuters in a phone interview, referring to the acronym for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer/questioning people.

Australia’s Education Minister Simon Birmingham said the two issues were not linked while nongovernment organisation Human Rights Watch ( HRW) said the ad was factually inaccurate.

Because the postal vote is not a formal election it is not subject to the same rules on political advertisements. — Reuters