Support for legalising same-sex marriage is running high in the Australian community at present, as opinion polls and media commentary are all confirming. So why the hesitancy from politicians from the two major political parties, usually so quick to capitalize on public opinion?
Simple. They are afraid of the Christian Right, and the votes they have been led to believe this conservative coalition can deliver – or withhold. Whatever the views of many ALP members, there is no certainty that the ALP conference in December this year will support a change.
After all, look how successful this conservative grouping was in 2004, when it ensured Labor support for the Howard government’s amendment to the 1961 Marriage Act that effectively banned same-sex marriage. The amendment defines marriage, for the first time in Australian law, as “the union of a man and a woman to the exclusion of all others, voluntarily entered into for life”.
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