As it is people are leaving the country to marry the person they love. It should NOT be like this. I feel Julia Gillard is stubborn and untrustworthy on the matter, but Tony Abbott is a fossil brainwashed with extreme Catholicism and values that belong in the last century !!!

****EVERYONE PLS WRITE TO YOUR LOCAL MEMBER, IT IS THE BEST THING YOU CAN DO !! That and also come to protest at the Fed debate in December !! Bring your friends and family, write letters, emails, sign petitions, inundate your member and parliament with our calls for reason, equality and acceptance !!

**** THIS MIGHT BE OUR LAST CHANCE !!

Just to correct one point, the 1999 reforms in NSW were the first in Australia to recognise same-sex relationships – it cleared away discrimination on a state level and give access to many of the basic rights and entitlements de facto straight couples had.

(But there was no partnership register then. That came circa 2009)

Superannuation, equal age of consent and most recently same-sex adoption all happened under NSW Labor.

The Commonwealth discrimination was only ended by Rudd, who went to the 2007 election committing to give same-sex couple equal entitlements and responsibilities. That happened in 2008.

Equal recognition is the remaining battle.

Good luck working with, in your words, Liberal bigotry. If Abbott is like Howard, that will mean no G & L reforms while he is Prime Minister.

And just for the record Tony Abbott has been one of the only major politicians to appear on JoyFM Gay radio to be interviewed. MS. Gilliard on the other hand is happy to do sit down interviews with the likes of Jim Wallace and the ACL(Australian Christian Lobby).

I have no desire or stomach for either of these major parties. However, there is one significant difference.
Liberal bigotry is out there on the table.
I beleive you can work with that.
Labor on the other hand is deceptive, sneaky, devious and underhanded
pretending to be something it is not.
That is why a change of government is inevitable.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s stance in same-sex marriage likely has more to do with being in coalition with the Liberal Democrats than fear of gay and lesbian voters turning away from the Torys at the next election.

And even some countries that have same-sex marriage/Bill of rights don’t have recognition of same-sex parenting or adoption rights.

Finally, it’s all a moot point really – Tony Abbott’s refusal to have a conscience vote kills any chance of same-sex marriage.

As for the “advantage” of non-compulsory voting, just three years ago Proposition 8 – a ban on same-sex marriage – was supported by a majority of Californian voters – despite opponents including the gay and lesbian community, raising more money (even Los Angeles voted to ban same-sex marriage)

FYI. It was the ‘whacko christians’ along with the NYC mayoral office that cut a deal for gay marriage in NY state recently.

However, it was all the non voting blacks in California that turned out in greater than ever numbers that voted for Obama when he was elected and for prop 8 for a marriage ban against gay ppl.

You see Ben everything isn’t as simple and cut n dried as you may think and there are many decent ppl in Australia who happpen to be christian who are appalled at the UNCHRISTIAN way gay ppl are treated.

@JackAlison – compulsory voting prevents the whacko Christian extremists – and they are more numerous and spread out than us. Gay and Lesbian voters are overwhelmingly concentrated in about six seats across Australia. Any “threat” to mobilise the pink vote outside the inner city would fail miserably. Think of where the most marginal seats in NSW are…Penrith and the Central Coast…easily more voting church-goers than voting sodomites.

Sorry, your analysis is wishful thinking.

But let’s get facts straight. Last election it was the coalition who committed to, if forming government, would update relationship status protections in federal discrimination laws to include same sex relationship. Labor still has not done this.

Both parties have committed to including sexual orientation! ALP has also committed to including gender identity.

And Tony Abbott personally before the election on Joy FM committed to in principle support for this position that then became party policy at the election!

Now I’m just saying… It could be possible given it was a spokesperson and not Tony himself that the spokesperson spoke too soon. Lets wait and see the outcome of the ALP conference. It would look pretty petty if the ALP gave a conscience vote and the coalition didn’t… Wouldn’t go down too well with many small l liberals and would play against Tony in terms of his captain catholic perception in the electorate

Political parties take a stance on a wide range of issues, some you agree with, some you don’t (the Greens included!)

Politics is not a “one issue” game. I for one support same-sex marriage, but I also recognise that the Nation needs a strong economy, low unemployment, good social services and strong international ties – I will vote for the party that I believe will do its best for most of these.

Yes, that means on occasion I may vote for a party that does not support same-sex marriage (heck – if you vote Labor or Liberal that is currently the case) – but I will not dismiss other elements as less important than same-sex marriage just because I am gay.

It says a lot about you that you wish your opponents dead rather than supporting a political debate. Shame on you.

Regardless of how Labor votes (as a bloc or conscience vote) same- sex marriage needs support from some conservatives to become law.

Abbott is odds-on to wn the next election – same-sex marriage is now ten years away, likely with an incoming Labor Government.

Replacing the “Stop the Boats” with the “Stop the gays destroying Marriage” is not a sentiment I share. Barny the Banana, from the Nationals, might run around spruiking this for Abbott, but if this is the alternative government then we are headed for disaster. Would Abbott rather we marry his daughters? I have to ask though, how many teen suicides will it take for Tony Abbott to remain leader? This idea there is a superior group of humans based on birth, is NAZI light isn’t it?

Turnbull for instance is a mess. He could cross the floor to support a tax, but could not support his own electorate who he said overwhelmingly they support equality. So who does Turnbull support if he does not support his electorate? Perhaps the conservative Catholic hardliner Tony Abbott might be better placed to answer this. For both certainly do not support equality and continue to make the birth of some Australians a punishment.

I just cannot bring myself to support this whole superior sexuality ideology Party and the messages that sends to the community. I thank that Greens we are now talking about equality, and Marriage equality is on the lips of Australians.

There are wider issues at stake here: Tony is in bed with Pell, and usually culture is handed down. Thus the shadow front bench reflects Tony’s conservative neo-catholiscism. Again I feel disappointed with the lack of rigor involved in keeping matters of State separate from organised religion, for example Ruddock introducing the Marriage Amendment Bill. There is the issue of reduction, a tool utilised when exercising stigma. Stigma as we know leads to poor health outcomes. View the outcomes of Beyondblue to date for an example of the nature of culture and reduction.

Interestingly the organised christian church did not have any notion of ownership of marriage until approx. 1100 BCE. Prior to that it was secular institution.

The membership of each major party reflects that Oz is the least involved when compared to any other Western democracy. Small memberships are vulnerable to extreme partisan notions: de Bruyn is a manifestation of this.

If Turnbill were the leader of the Liberal would have things been different? I believe so, as previously stated culture permeates from above.

The alterations to the State Equal Opportunity Act under Brumby were at best a pathetic compromise post Hulls backroom deal with the catholics. In affect it was useless.

Ultimately, fault must be pointed at the Greens; they have not achieved cross partisan support. Thus even if we gain Gay marriage, sustainability is in doubt, and our young will be left fighting for rights that our generation only half did.