Dying man pleads with Turnbull for marriage equality
PETER聽de Waal and Peter Bonsall-Boone have been together fifty years.
After decades of fighting for their rights and even being charged under historic anti-gay laws, the couple have seen many of the social discriminations against gay people break down over time.
With homosexuality previously considered a crime and a mental illness, the two never imagined they would even be able to consider marriage.
Now Bonsall-Boone, 78, has been diagnosed with an aggressive type of cancer, and is terminal. His final wish is to be able to marry his partner.
鈥淔or us, it鈥檚 a really urgent matter,鈥� said de Waal. 鈥淲e鈥檝e been second-class citizens for all of the fifty years we鈥檝e been together. I would feel pretty awful if Bon were to die as a second-class citizen.鈥�
鈥淚n looking forward to dying, one of my sorrows is that I鈥檓 not taking Peter with me,鈥� said Bonsall-Boone.
鈥淚 am going to miss him like crazy. Marriage for Peter and me would be a great sort of fulfilment of many years of association and love.鈥�
The couple, who have long been involved in LGBTI activism including the 1978 Sydney protests, fear the 鈥渉ate and misinformation鈥� that would come from a public campaign or plebiscite for marriage equality.
鈥淭he plebiscite, for us, was absolutely horrific,鈥� said de Waal. 鈥淲e鈥檝e lived through all those eras and we know what it is like.鈥�
This week, de Waal and Bonsall-Boone have personally mailed their plea for marriage equality to the Prime Minister.
The letter reads, 鈥淒ear Mr Turnbull, You can make our wish come true. But please do it quickly as Bon鈥檚 time is fast running out!鈥�
鈥淚t should just be waved straight through,鈥� said Bonsall-Boone. 鈥淚t is so insignificant on the whole, but absolutely vital for people like us.鈥�
The only person who deserves to die a horrible death is Malcolm Turnbull and his government! Bring on an early election now and install Labor! End this delay madness now!
I’ve never posted an opinion on this or any other website before about gay marriage (or any other topic for that matter).
But reading this today, I just can’t help saying something to the politicians out there (I really hope that at least some of you read these posts to see what the “average Joe” thinks).
What is the problem? What is the worry? Seriously!
It’s 2017. So many countries already recognise same sex relationships. What are you really scared of? Votes? The downfall of civilisation? Come on, can it really be that bad?
Surely the only negative thing about allowing gay marriage in Australia at the moment is the sheer embarrassment to politicians by not yet allowing it. Get over it!
Every day we hear stories about human rights, gay rights, the right to be who you are. In many ways, it’s all the same. Either you have rights, or you don’t. Which is it? Yes or no? It’s not complicated. Why make it complicated?
Who am I? I’m an average Aussie guy who happens to be gay (and been happily living with another guy for 20 years). I hold a senior management position in the construction industry. Other than my boss, I’ve never worked up the courage to tell my workmates that I’m gay (a bit sad I know). Would I get married if it was an option? I don’t really know (I’ve pretty much given up hope).
But what about other people, like Peter and Bon, to whom it does matter a lot? What about them? What about them?
We’ve been together for just short of 40 years and can imagine the angst these two Peters must feel. We opposed that stupid plebiscite for damage the vile NO propaganda would cause youths. Even though we also long to marry. At 63 I was told I only had a few years due 50 years of smoking since my early teens. I’m 74 after finally quitting, doing gym and eating more healthy but with severe irreversible lung damage I still worry I’ll never marry the love of my life unless those LNP pricks don’t stop their self righteous nonsense and allow a free vote.
In 2019, please, please everyone vote for Labor, Greens, Australian Democrats, Australian Libertarian Party, Nick Xenophon, Darren Hitch or the Sex Party at both the NSW and federal elections – for the sake of implementing marriage equality immediately for these two men and thousands of other SSCs out there. The LNP, Bob Katter, Family First, One Nation, Australian Conservatives such as Cory Benardi, Jackie Lambie and other bigoted Conservatives who get in the way of marriage equality can just piss off!
I wish Peter and Peter all the best for their dream wedding. So much rubbish has been talked about the plebiscite. Never before has a non-binding plebiscite been used to determine civil rights in Australia. Why do we have to start now that it’s a gay rights issue? (It’s not just a gay rights issue as any intersex person will quickly point out.) The plebiscite is just an expensive opportunity for the Cory Bernardis of this world to have one last homophobic rant before gay people get their appropriate rights, we don’t need it and it serves no purpose.