Last night on ABC TV’s Q&A, Prime Minister Julia Gillard attempted to explain her continued opposition to marriage equality by using her own heterosexual relationship as a reference point.
Ms Gillard, who has been with partner Tim Mathieson for several years, said “I think you can have a relationship of love and commitment and trust and understanding that doesn’t need a marriage certificate associated with it. That’s my life experience – so I’m speaking from that life experience.”
It seems as though Julia Gillard has missed the point of the whole marriage equality issue.
Her “life experience” isn’t relevant because it’s her choice not to be married, and if she wanted to be married she could do it. Same-sex couples might be they don’t have that choice – no matter how loving, committed, trusting and understanding their relationship might be. Besides, marriage equality isn’t about a couple’s ability to have a happy relationship, it’s about affording gay human beings the same rights as heterosexual couples.
Geoff Thomas, the audience member who initiated the marriage conversation with the PM said, “I’ve always believed you to be a compassionate person. You belong to a political party that tells us, and we believe, most people would believe, are the architects of all great social change in this country.
“To me you sit there as a Prime Minister that’s abandoned that basic principle of treating every Australian equal under the law. My son deserves to be treated equally under the law. John Howard changed this law eight years ago. What he did is took a group of law abiding citizens and put them outside the law. What you’re doing, Prime Minister, is keeping them there.”
It was an interesting episode of Q&A with the episode’s conversation covering issues including Carbon Tax, the Mining industry, Tax Reform, the extradition of Julian Assange, and knitting.
Watch the full episode or read the full transcript at abc.net.au
