Marriage delay political suicide, warns Thorpe
Ian Thorpe was touched by his family’s support during the same-sex marriage postal vote but tells Holly Byrnes he still fears for others and the public expects action now
WINNING equal rights for same sex couples to marry means too much to Ian Thorpe to jump in the deep end and announce his own wedding plans.
That is, the Olympic champion teases, until Federal legislation is passed.
Celebrating the Yes victory in the same-sex marriage postal survey yesterday, the retired swim star and a hero of the marriage equality campaign said the fight was “unfinished business” until the Turnbull government made the result law.
Thorpe and his partner, Ryan Channing made the decision to openly commit themselves to supporting the Yes vote, filming a TV commercial together which encouraged voters to register for the postal survey.
But with LGBTI lives still in limbo until legislation goes through, Thorpe remained coy on their own wedding plans.
“Out of respect for marriage and what it means to so many people, I wouldn’t want to comment just yet,” he said.
“After Christmas, as long as it goes through, you can ask me again.”
The 34-year-old and his law student boyfriend, who have been dating since early 2016, found the “intentionally” drawn out process difficult, with Thorpe warning it would be “political suicide” for any party to delay the legislation any further.
“Politicising people’s lives was not the right thing to have done and I think this [result] is a message to politicians: you’ve put Australians through a lot, it’s been expensive and Australians just want this result done, so we can move on to other things now.”
He said: “With the kind of messaging that the Prime Minister made, that this will be through before Christmas, I think that’s the kind of timeframe the public expects now. Any kind of delay in that, I think is po- litical suicide for the Government.”
“The [Opposition] tried to play a swift hand on this and it’s also going to be devastating for them ... Australians just want them to get on with it.”
Having endured years of public scrutiny over his sexuality — until coming out in a TV special with UK broadcaster Michael Parkinson back in 2014 — Thorpe was prepared for the ugly commentary which surrounded much of this debate. For many of his friends though, he revealed, it was like being tormented by their school bullies all over again.
“The thought that those same people, who either bullied them or bashed them on the high school playground, got the chance to have a say in who they get to spend the rest of their lives with was hard to cop,” Thorpe said.
His own family embraced the opportunity to vote ‘yes,’ which proved emotional for the five-time Olympic gold medallist.
“We had a family event recently and I was actually shocked, and I shouldn’t be, when family members came up and said, ‘ We’ll be voting yes and we just wanted you to know’. When it comes from family, it touches you because you feel accepted.
“Not that you need a ringing endorsement for who you are or what you do, but for me it meant a lot.”
Still, he holds grave fears for those young people who chose this historic moment to come out to their loved ones — only to be rejected.
“If you’re a young person and you felt you could come out in this [survey] and your family said no instead, where does that leave you?
“That’s why I really wanted this vote to be an overwhelming result ... for that young person who does feel isolated, who does feel they’re the only one ... they need to know that the rest of the country sends them the message they are now equal to anybody else.”