Gay marriage is one of those issues that just won’t go away.
It takes up headlines, talkback lines, internet forums and a lot of politicians’ time.
It’s a debate that is too often tainted by alarmism, divisiveness and politicking – and all because two blokes want to have in-laws.
So how have they handled it elsewhere? Well, in over 20 places around the world, soon to include the UK, they just got on with it and got over it.
Leaders like the UK’s David Cameron, Argentina’s Kristina Kirchner and New York’s Andrew Cuomo all said enough is enough, let’s just do this and move on.
The thing about marriage equality is it doesn’t cost anything to do, doesn’t affect the churches in any way, and isn’t the kind of complicated legislation no one understands.
It’s a brief amendment to an act that has changed over time to also allow inter-racial marriage and provide women with more equality.
You might ask, wouldn’t it be easier for everyone if gay couples just stopped asking for the right to legally commit to a shared life? Well, if history is anything to go by, they won’t.
When a group of people who contribute to society, who pay taxes and vote are denied something so basic they don’t take it lying down.
Gay people can be doctors like Kerryn Phelps, judges like Michael Kirby, and win medals at the Olympics like Matt Mitcham and Daniel Kowalski, but they can’t walk down the aisle with the person they love.
What should be a day of celebration in the lives of couples and their families has been turned into one of the most unnecessary political battles of recent history.
The solution to all this is the kind of sensible political leadership that Gillard and Abbott aren’t showing. As long as these two continue to put dumb politics before progress, this debate will just go on and on. More and more Aussie couples will go overseas to get married, angry that on their return they are automatically divorced, even before they hit duty free.
And the parliament will keep on debating and delaying something that Galaxy Research says 75 per cent of Australians believe is inevitable.
The Labor Party national conference in December will be our first chance to start to “get over it”. If it follows the lead of Labor’s state conferences and makes this ALP policy, and if Abbott opens his ears to public opinion and allows a conscience vote, articles like this one will become totally redundant.
The gays won’t bother you with anything more than wedding invitations. And no one will be worse off – apart from those two blokes who now have to deal with their in-laws.
Alex Greenwich is convenor of Australian Marriage Equality. This article was originally published in the Daily Telegraph