There is something almost inevitable about the machinations underway at the Australian Labor party's three day conference at Darling Harbour to neuter gay marriage as an issue.
Damned if you do - and damned if you don't !
The one thing all the party " heavies " are desperate to avoid is a platform change that requires a caucus decision vote to be imposed on all ALP parliamentarians. That would be a moral issue that would result in a few people crossing the floor - and under ALP rules - being expelled from the party.
That could be the final straw that caused Labor to simply disintegrate. The party is already the choice of just three out of every ten Australians - and dangerously close to becoming irrelevant. If Julia Gillard can navigate her way to a " conscience vote " - then the issue of gay marriage will not become law - and the Labor party will survive to fight another day.
What is so obvious to most people is the inevitability of this issue - which has widespread support across all political factions and every strata of society. State after state has approved gay marriage and yet it remains illegal in the Federal parliament. A glance at history tells an interesting story.
Fifty years ago homosexuality was a crime in every Australian state. Prosecution was rare, and when it happened the " family newspapers " of that time were uncomfortable reporting court cases. It was the " unspoken " crime, referred to by " nod and wink ", but otherwise studiously ignored.
It came to prominence in June 1978 when Sydney's gay community held the first Mardi-Gras. The Conservative state government refused to issue a license, and it degenerated into a running fight. Some police tried to drag people off floats. Other police stood aside and did nothing. Huge crowds watched and applauded - and government realised that further refusal would be politically dangerous. The Gay Mardi-Gras became an annual event.
Ever since both civil custom and the courts have been chipping away at the obstacles to the gay scene and it's civil rights protection. Gay couples can adopt children in most states. It is against the law to discriminate against people because of their sexual orientation. The list goes on - and on !
Gay marriage will not become law at this ALP conference - but it will happen somewhere further down the track - and when it does - the world will not end.
Many religious people will still oppose gay marriage long after it becomes the norm, but when we compare gay rights now to what existed in the 1950's - who would have believed that this country could have made that sort of change - and that the vast majority of people approve ?
Seems to be a case of an irresistible force meeting an immovable object !
But then - wasn't the Gay Mardi-Gras such an earlier collision ?
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