I think it鈥檚 a good thing federal Liberal MP Kelly O鈥橠wyer has come out in support of marriage equality. I鈥檓 also down with Liberal candidate Sean O鈥機onnor saying something to the same effect, even if it doesn鈥檛 mean much of anything to anyone.
That said, someone needs to call bullshit. O鈥橠wyer should not be applauded for this. She belongs to a party that has stood against queer equality for a very long time. She belongs to the same party as senator Cory Bernardi.
My disdain for conservative politicians like O鈥橠wyer is not just rooted in some grudge against the Libs for years of homophobic policy platforms (I鈥檒l believe there鈥檚 change when I see it), my disdain is for a party that does a lot of other shit stuff. While it鈥檚 true that the Libs鈥� actual policy platforms are virtually indistinguishable from federal Labor鈥檚 鈥� and don鈥檛 get me wrong, I think that lot are pretty shit as well 鈥� a big difference between the two is who鈥檚 in them. Namely, the Coalition is full of bigoted nutbags.
Cory Bernardi compared homosexuality to beastiality, Sophie Mirabella led a group of Coalition MPs who turned their back on the apology to the Stolen Generations. Eric Abetz has repeatedly compared refugees to paedophiles, Tony Abbott called abortion 鈥渁 mother鈥檚 convenience鈥�. I could go on.
Whether internally-driven reform is an effective means of achieving organisational and social change is an age-old question. It is often said we need good people in homophobic organisations like the Australian Liberal Party to slowly affect change from within. Perhaps Kelly O鈥橠wyer is one such good person 鈥� I would never want to say people can鈥檛 change their minds.
But as I have written here before, there are good reasons it鈥檚 so difficult to be gay and politically on the right. Conservatism is, by definition, about privileged people in society maintaining the status quo to protect their own interests, and the status quo is anti-queer. To be in the Liberal Party and to have its values is to stand in support of a system that perpetuates social inequalities, of which homophobia is just one. As a member of her political party, Kelly O鈥橠wyer is preventing social change, not facilitating it.
If more politicians in the federal Coalition want to publicly support marriage equality, great. But considering their track record, it will be a long time before they should expect a pat on the back from me.
