ALP Senator Louise Pratt’s impassioned speech reminds us that watching parliamentary debates on marriage equality reform is an exercise in emotional and intellectual labour. From awe to anger, whether good or bad, the political rhetoric is intensely affective.
Marriage occupies an enormous amount of cultural, social, political and religious interest. In Australia it remains the most privileged means by which citizenship and intimacy is crystallised.
Equality, however, should not be contingent on our sentimental attachments. Progressive policy is built on evidence and principle.