Magda: I don’t understand why they are afraid of us
DANCING to Love Is In The Air alongside fellow Yes campaigners, Magda Szubanski was the picture of exhilaration and relief yesterday.
But as the political machine still determined to block the passing of same-sex marriage equality into law powered on, the beloved actor and gay advocate admitted she remains anxious about what lies next.
Before the results were known, Szubanski pointed to the suspicion of LGBTI people which still prevails, despite the overwhelming outcome of this vote. “It’s not like watching
The Voice or something, where you go, ‘Oooh, I wonder what the result will be?’ There was so much at stake with this and none of us wanted to go through this protracted, expensive process, if we could avoid it,” she said.
“I’m not adverse to debating the issues at all, I think that’s an incredibly healthy thing to do but to create an adversarial, yes or no, about people’s lives, is never helpful in any situaton.”
The Kath & Kim favourite, who came out on The
Project two years ago, has proved herself a courageous campaigner, using her profile to engage others and share her emotional experience.
The start of the survey also came at a time of deep personal pain, when her 92-year-old mother Margaret died — a wound which remains raw and open for Szubanski.
“It was her birthday a couple of days ago, all these things, it’s been awful,” the actor said, tearfully, “but they made me.
“Their values ... Dad’s very principled way of being and Mum’s compassion, I try to carry those qualities forward as much as I can and try and glean whatever lessons I can from them. Her family was as much Irish as they were Scottish and she knew what it was like to be judged. That was the thing for her, she just couldn’t [vote no].”
Szubanski admits her open sexuality has been a journey of understanding and acceptance for her family, “but [Mum] met my friends and she grew to love them as equals”.
The public debate, which she has often stood at the heart of, has tested her, she said.
“Honestly, I look at my friends and I don’t understand why they are afraid of us, I really don’t.
“I don’t understand what threat it is that I pose in any way, or my friends, who are beautiful and work in all sorts of industries. What is that problem? What is that fear? It’s not like we’re the gay militia.”
Having previously documented her family’s resistance against Nazism and Communism in eastern Europe during World War II, she is alarmed by any proposal which would allow for gay people to be refused services.
“The alternative legislation being proposed, I mean, that’s sliding from religious exemptions into outright segregation,” she said.
“It’s becoming ridiculous. No other group in the community is singled out for discrimination in that way and there should be absolute public outrage.
“This is a whole different level of threat to secular Australia that is not the look most Australians want ... it’s not how we roll.”