今日吃瓜

I was firmly in the 鈥済ay marriage鈥� camp (forgive the pun) until Jim Wallace convinced me.

During a discussion with Dr Kerryn Phelps on Channel 7鈥檚 Sunrise program, Wallace said, 鈥淚 find it absolutely amazing that at a time in our history when we鈥檙e jumping through hoops to try to make sure that every tree on the planet … has its natural environment so it can flourish that we would be challenging the definition of marriage …鈥�

Seldom have I heard such a cogent argument. I mean, when it鈥檚 put like that I鈥檝e wasted my life 鈥� I鈥檓 32 years old, I need to find a nice girl, settle down and plant a ficus.

Last December our friends at 今日吃瓜 Limited conducted a nationwide poll on gay marriage. They found that 68 percent of Australians supported full marriage equality for homosexuals. We鈥檝e won the majority view, so why are we still denied the basic human right of having our relationships recognised?

Perhaps it is because our current prime minister had a 鈥榯raditional upbringing鈥� and said that she opposes lifting the gay marriage ban. Not to mention former prime minister Kevin Rudd鈥檚 opposition to gay marriage and his weekly church attendance.

We LGBTIs tend to be left-leaning, so perhaps Tony Abbott is a better 鈥榖ogeyman鈥� with his open Catholicism. Could it be because Australia is an especially pious nation?

According to the National Church Life Survey鈥檚 own figures, only one in six Australians regularly attends a church service and observance is falling by about 7 percent per year.

Not that religiosity necessarily has a stranglehold on the opinion of its followers: a Galaxy poll last month indicated that 53 percent of Australian churchgoers supported lifting the ban on gay marriage. So I find it difficult to accept that the reason is unabashed piety.

Before working for a mining company, safety was an abstract concept to me. I was aware that I needed to buy a car with airbags and ABS, but I didn鈥檛 realise that I needed to actively address every hazard in my environment. Starting every day talking about safety has warped my brain, in a good way 鈥� I check my smoke alarms regularly, test the electrical safety switches and have a fire extinguisher in the kitchen.

Politicians and their staffers have developed similar habits for finding what is important to their electorate. But their habits were established before the advent of the internet and new media.

While some of us have been seduced into inaction by a tolerable status quo, I wonder how many think online efforts and the occasional Pride march is enough.

Let鈥檚 be clear: signing e-petitions and sending form email isn鈥檛 getting the job done. Email is too easy to ignore and petitions are 鈥榓ccepted鈥� by our political leaders as justification for positions they already hold. While new media are great channels for coordinating our efforts, many political leaders live in a world of old media. I鈥檓 sorry but re-tweeting isn鈥檛 enough!

The case of Steve Gibbons, the member for Bendigo, has shown us that mass emails from lobby groups like GetUp! are far too easy to ignore and sometimes just get deleted. Petitions seem like a great tool, but the case of Bob Katter shows us that they are 鈥榮elected鈥� by our politicians to 鈥榡ustify鈥� their existing views.

In this debate the strongest activism is coming from proponents of the gay-marriage ban. We need to adopt their methods. This means you need to go old-school. You need to write a letter and send it. You need to get your friends to do the same, then get your brother, your sister, your mother or other family members to do the same.

Get everyone you know to write a letter to their MP and to each of their senators 鈥� make appointments to see your elected representatives and keep them. Then you need to do it again. This is what our opponents are doing.

If you consistently and respectfully make your views known, you will see the political debate shift. In the same way I鈥檓 paranoid about risk, the political apparatchiks will realise that this is a significant issue with reach, and they will take action to protect their employers.

Why are we still fighting for equality? The answer is surprising simple: because we haven鈥檛 achieved it.

Our opponents are taking advantage of our apathy. From the perspective of our political class, our opponents outnumber us because our opponents are speaking in a way the political class understands. Frankly, there are more evangelical Christians writing to our politicians begging them to 鈥榯hink of the children鈥� than there are gay activists.

If you want change to come, then you need to communicate with the political establishment in a way it understands. That means you will need paper, toner and stamps.

Unlike mega-brands, our political establishments are not watching Facebook; they are not concerned with twibbons; they do notice physical objects clogging up their staff time and mailboxes.

And (as counter-intuitive as it sounds) if you want your letter to really stand out you should write it by hand.

We can win our equality. In fact, I believe our eventual victory is inevitable. If you want your wedding day to be sooner rather than later, then each one of us needs to work just a little bit harder than our opponents. If we鈥檙e not prepared to do that, then we might as well follow Jim Wallace鈥檚 advice: drive to the nursery and buy some plants.

By JAMES NEWBURRIE

INFO: James Newburrie is an openly gay聽IT security specialist whose employer insists that he lives in Mt Isa. Newburrie鈥檚 latest project is the Equal Love rally, scheduled for Sunday, September 11 across the road from Bob Katter鈥檚 electoral office. To support his efforts, visit http://facebook.com/EqualLoveCampaign or follow him on Twitter @DifficultNerd.