Showing posts with label Gay Marriage. Show all posts

Sunday, 3 November 2013

Free Vote Likely On Gay Marriage ...

COMMUNICATIONS Minister Malcolm Turnbull believes the coalition is likely to grant MPs a conscience vote if a gay marriage private member's bill comes before federal parliament.

Mr Turnbull said on Saturday there was a mood in the coalition party room for a free vote on the issue.
"As to whether there would be a majority in favour of same-sex marriage in the House of Representatives and the Senate, I don't know," he told Network Ten.

He said he believed if the coalition had allowed a conscience vote when the issue was debated in the last parliament it would have made no difference to the outcome.
"There nonetheless would not have been the numbers to get it passed," Mr Turnbull said.
He reiterated his support for gay marriage.

Australian Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young flagged her party would re-introduce a private members bill on gay marriage when parliament resumes in a fortnight.
"This parliament can achieve marriage equality but it will take all sides working together to make it happen," she said in a statement.
She put the call out for politicians from other parties to co-sponsor the bill.

I am dubious but will keep my fingers crossed that common sense comes to our Federal Government, even if just for a short time.

Popular opinion here in Oz is very supportive of marriage equality, but unfortunately we have a man with the nickname "The Mad Monk" as our Prime Minister.

Yup - Mad Monk.

D
xox

Thursday, 11 October 2012

Guy Sebastian - Righteous Heterosexual

Losing my religion: Guy Sebastian's revelations on Christianity and sex

CAMERON ADAMS - NATIONAL MUSIC WRITER
October 10, 2012 11:30PM

Not the guy I used to be: Guy Sebastian says his views on religion have grown somewhat. Picture: Sony

Singer says his religious beliefs have changed
"My views are more based on life and discovery"
Is a vocal supporter of gay marriage

GUY Sebastian has come a long way since winning Australian Idol in 2003.

Then, he was the country's most talked-about virgin and a devout Christian. Now, Sebastian is a happily married dad and yesterday revealed his religious beliefs had also changed.
A song on Sebastian's new Armageddon album, called Get Along, highlights the fear and ignorance inherent in many faith groups.
The singer, 30,said he still believed in God, but is more informed about religion than he was in his youth.
"My views are more based on life and discovery and research than just what I'm told," he said.
"Because what I was told in regards to so many things was so wrong. I've gone from a place where I was told there was one way and only one way, to being more in a place where I don't think anyone has the right to say what they believe is more important or more significant."
Sebastian also spoke out in favour of gay marriage.

Lupe Fiasco and Guy Sebastian. Picture: Nic Gibson

"I don't think anyone has the right to tell someone who they can and can't be in love with," he said.
"You look back at the unfair things that happen in history and this will be looked back on as one of those things.
"People will think 'Oh my gosh I can't believe the world was in that state, that they held those views'.
"It's pretty unfair for people to not be able to claim the same benefits, that's ridiculous."

Portrait of Guy Sebastian on location where he was shooting his new video clip. Photo: Sony

Another new song, Died And Gone To Heaven, is an ode to love-making.

"It was definitely a world that opened up for me and it was great," Sebastian said. "I'm very lucky to still be in love and still have a wife I'm very attracted to. It was worth the wait."

Sebastian also revealed his No.1 hit, Battle Scars, was almost the victim of record company politics.

Guy Sebastian and wife Jules in Sydney. Picture: Richard Dobson

The track features US rapper Lupe Fiasco, whose Australian record label tried to stop the song being released. "They thought if Lupe Fiasco worked with Guy Sebastian, Triple J would never play him again," he said.
"The head of Warner in Australia rang up Atlantic, Lupe's label in the US... and said `If you do this it'll be the end of Lupe's career in Australia, he's an idiot for wanting to do this'. They actually put a block on it."

Australian singer Guy Sebastian. Picture: Sony Music

Warner Music in Australia declined to comment on Sebastian's statements.
Battle Scars has gone triple platinum in Australia and Fiasco included the song on the American version of his album. It has become Sebastian's first US Top 100 hit.
Armageddon will be released tomorrow.

Wednesday, 19 September 2012

Bestiality Enters Gay Wedding Debate...

LIBERAL Senator Cory Bernardi has suggested legalising same sex marriage would lead to demands for bestiality to also be sanctioned.
Speaking in Parliament last night on a gay marriage bill sponsored by four Labor senators, Senator Bernardi said the push for same-sex marriage was part of an attack on ''our enduring institutions.''

Senator Cory Bernardi. Photo: Andrew Meares

''It is another chip in the fabric of our social mores,'' he said. ''The time has come to ask, when will it end? If we are prepared to redefine marriage … what is the next step? The next step … is having three people that love each other should be able to enter into a permanent union endorsed by society, or four people. There are even some creepy people out there, who say that it's OK to have consensual sexual relations between humans and animals. Will that be a future step?''

Labor Senator Helen Polley also spoke against the bill. She said two-thirds of the correspondence she had received on the issue had urged her to oppose change. She read aloud a letter from a constituent which said same-sex marriage could ''create another stolen generation by putting adult desires above the needs of children''.

Sue Boyce: 'I support the intention of the bill.' Photo: Paul Harris

But another Labor senator, Doug Cameron, said arguments about children being disadvantaged by being brought up be same-sex couples ''denies the reality of some children facing absolutely terrible lives with heterosexual couples''. Labor Senator John Faulkner said the debate was not really about the value of marriage, or its role in society. ''It is a debate on the simple question of whether it is right for a government to deny some of its citizens access to a secular, government-recognised status on the basis of the gender of the person they choose to share their life with,'' he said.

Liberal senator Sue Boyce will defy Tony Abbott by speaking in favour of a bill to legalise gay marriage, and has not ruled out crossing the floor to vote for it. Senators last night resumed debating the bill, sponsored by Labor senators Trish Crossin, Carol Brown, Louise Pratt and Gavin Marshall.
A vote on the private member's bill from Labor MP Stephen Jones, which is being debated today by the House of Representatives, is likely today or tomorrow. A vote in both houses this week - which will see both bills defeated - would clear the issue off the government's agenda.

Senator Boyce, of Queensland, has previously publicly expressed support for same-sex marriage. But the Coalition has maintained a position of opposing change to marriage laws, and Coalition MHRs and senators are bound to vote against it. ''I support the intention of the bill,'' Senator Boyce told The Age yesterday. Senator Boyce said she was still considering how she would vote.

Australian Greens senator Richard Di Natale was in the chamber when Senator Bernardi made his ‘‘offensive and appalling’’ comments.
‘‘What an affront to those parents whose kids are struggling with their sexuality, who are suffering from anxiety and depression and self-harming because their kids’ choices around sexuality are being compared to bestiality,’’ he said. ‘‘What an appalling, appalling statement from somebody whose standards in the parliament need to lift.’’

Nationals Senate leader Barnaby Joyce - who is opposed to gay marriage and civil unions - said the same-sex marriage debate was one that attracted strong views and that, ‘‘we should all be allowed to express those strong views’’. Senator Joyce said he was in no position to make criticisms of Senator Boyce and her reported intentions to cross the floor. ‘‘I would be the last person to start saying that someone crossing the floor should be punished because otherwise I would be hung, drawn, quartered and flogged,’’ he said. Senator Joyce crossed the floor multiple times during the Howard government era, most notably on legislation that made changes to the Trade Practices Act in 2005.
with Jessica Wright

Tuesday, 19 June 2012

Gay Marriage Debate Brought Forward........

Protesters march in Melbourne for gay marriage rights. Photo: Craig Sillitoe

The vote on gay marriage has been brought forward from the end of the year and could be held as early as August following concerns from Labor's Right that the debate is damaging the party.
It is accepted on all sides that the push to legalise gay marriage will be defeated.
According to sources, in this morning's caucus meeting the government whip Joel Fitzgibbon said that due to the desire of some within Labor to "hasten the process", more time would be allotted for the debate, meaning the vote could be held earlier. Because the bill, sponsored by Labor's Stephen Jones, is a private member's bill, there is only limited time for debate on Mondays.Without extra time allotted, there would have been no final vote until the end of the year at the earliest.

Greens MP Adam Bandt has his own separate bill and will delay a vote on that until later this year or early next year in the hope public pressure changes minds.
"It should be done not just because it's popular but because it is right," he said.
"But I'm optimistic of achieving reform within the life of this Parliament, with some more discussion and more persuasion."

The Finance Minister, Penny Wong, one of the strongest proponents for a change to the Marriage Act, said yesterday that change would eventually come.
"I think the campaign is not going to go away because ultimately it's a campaign for people's equality," she said.

A seven-member parliamentary committee split 4-2 against same-sex marriage yesterday with one abstention as it handed down a report that contained no recommendations, only information for all politicians to use to inform their final decision.
The Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, will vote against gay marriage but has allowed Labor MPs a conscience vote.
Number-crunchers estimate about 36 of the 70 Labor MPs will vote for same-sex marriage, while 10 to 15 are undecided and the rest will vote against.
Tony Abbott will not allow a conscience vote and all Coalition MPs are bound to vote against same-sex marriage. Backbenchers can cross the floor but any frontbencher who does so would have to resign from the shadow ministry. Malcolm Turnbull said he would like to support the bill but it would cost him his job.

Parliament's standing committee on social policy and legal affairs received a record 276,437 responses to an online survey it conducted as part of its inquiry.
The committee chairman, Labor MP Graham Perrett, along with fellow Labor MP Laura Smyth, came out in favour of gay marriage. Liberal MPs Sharman Stone and Ross Vasta and Labor's Mike Symon and Shayne Neumann were opposed. The other member, Liberal moderate Judi Moylan, gave no separate opinion.

Church groups and the Australian Christian Lobby have fiercely campaigned against gay marriage, despite Labor's bill exonerating the churches and any other religious groups from having to marry gay people.
Mr Perrett, who holds a marginal Queensland seat, said ''it is important to remember that God did not write the Marriage Act. It is written by lawyers and legislators and must reflect the views and values of today."

With public opinion polls consistently showing majority support for same-sex marriage, Mr Perrett said it was incumbent upon MPs to respond to growing public support "by categorically opposing laws that legitimise discrimination".
Ms Stone and Mr Vasta said the Liberals had promised before the federal election not to legalise gay marriage.
''I do not accept that the view towards marriage has changed since the 2010 federal election,'' Ms Stone added.