Never prouder to be a Tasmanian
A landslide victory for marriage equality is a vote for love and a fair go for all, explains Rodney Croome
AUSTRALIA’S vote for marriage equality was a vote to let my partner and I walk down the aisle, but it was a vote for many things besides.
It was a vote for fundamental Australian values like a fair go for all.
It was a vote that says all Australians should be equal before the law and have the same opportunities in life.
It was a vote that says love makes a marriage and a family.
The majority was so strong in each and every state that if this had been a referendum it would be implemented immediately.
If it was an election it would be called a landslide.
Unlike a referendum or an election, the postal survey isn’t binding on politicians, but that is not an excuse for delay.
The Federal Parliament has a moral and political obligation to pass marriage equality legislation as quickly as possible so loving, committed couples can begin to marry in the new year.
As proud as I felt to be an Australian when the result was announced, I felt even prouder to be a Tasmanian. The vote in our state was above the national average, as was the vote in three of our five electorates. This from a state that has the oldest and most rural population in the nation, and which was the last state to decriminalise homosexuality.
The reputation we once had for fear and prejudice towards LGBTI people is long dead. Tasmania has truly emerged as one of Australia’s rainbow states. I call on all Tasmania’s federal politicians to heed the emphatic message from our state and vote Yes for marriage equality.
It’s important to consider what the Yes vote was not.
It was not a mandate to have more postal surveys.
The high participation rate was because Australians want marriage equality, not because they want politicians to outsource their jobs when there are tough decisions to make.
As wonderful as the result is, many LGBTI people and our families went through a really tough time having the nation judge us.
The vote may be over but the damage caused by giving prejudice such a huge platform will go on.
We must never have a postal survey on minority rights again.
I hope the state and federal governments will provide the money necessary to ensure everyone hurt and harmed by the postal survey has the support they need.
The result was also definitely not a vote for the kind of carve-outs from discrimination law that have been proposed by people like Victorian senator James Paterson. These carve-outs would allow same-sex couples to be refused service by businesses and charities under the cover of “protecting religious freedom”.
The central plank of the No campaign was that same-sex marriages pose a threat to freedom, faith and family, and that special legislative protections are required to guard against this threat.
The Australian people didn’t buy this fearmongering and rejected the threat as a myth.
There is no mandate for “protecting religious freedom” because the Australian people clearly don’t believe this freedom will be infringed.
The mandate is for full equality and nothing less.
That said, it is vitally important for Yes supporters to reach out to those who voted No. We need to reassure No voters they have nothing to fear from marriage equality.
We need to remind No voters, and ourselves, that as Australians there is more that unites us than divides us.
There must be no triumphalism from the Yes side. Instead, we should be humbled by the decision of so many everyday Australians to vote Yes.
I extend my gratitude and thanks to all those volunteers who worked so hard for Tasmanians United for Marriage Equality and the Yes campaign in Tasmania.
Our objective was to run a
campaign that featured Tasmanians talking to Tasmanians about why marriage equality matters.
Our goal was to prompt personal conversations between family members, friends and work colleagues.
We know from decades of experience in Tasmania that this is the key to changing hearts and minds.
Our approach worked. We should all be very proud.
Ever since I began advocating for LGBTI equality almost 30 years ago, I have been driven by a desire for LGBTI people to be treated with equal respect and accorded equal dignity.
I know that goal hasn’t been reached for all LGBTI people, but I feel like the state and the nation have taken a great stride towards it.
We have reached a point from which there is no retreat to the dark days of legal discrimination and socially acceptable prejudice.
We have affirmed to ourselves and to the world that we will not countenance discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity.
Soon there will be marriage equality and the nation will be moved by the joy of loving couples saying “I do”.
But something even more profound will fill the hearts of LGBTI people when the wedding bells ring out.
We will know that we finally belong.
It is vitally important to reach out to those who voted No. We need to reassure them they have nothing to fear