The same-sex wedding bells may be ringing stateside, but marriage equality hit a speed bump in Australia recently when the governing coalition moved to block a vote on the issue in parliament.
The decision will stall progress for quite some time, as it would take a large number of MPs openly voting against their party to pass the measure. The ruling coalition voted 66-33 to order lawmakers to follow party lines.
One senator, Eric Abetz, even cited unmarried gay fashion moguls Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana as examples of his belief that most gay men don’t even want to marry. “Lots of homosexuals don’t want to get married, Dolce and Gabbana never got married,” he blindly declared.
By that logic we could say that most Australians wrestle crocodiles and carry big knives.
How about we take this to the next level?
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Following the blow, Labor MP Tim Watts threw out his prepared remarks to speak from the heart — a move usually reserved for the poignant third act of a film. And the effect was the same.
“Reading Senator Abetz’s comments made me wonder whether he had ever met a gay man before,” he begins.
Watts delivers touching remarks, speaking highly of his gay uncle Derek, who died of AIDS.
“He would have wanted me to say to Senator Abetz: Do not claim to understand what gay Australians want,” he says. “Do not tell them what they do and don’t want. Do not use the law to deny them the equal right to choose the same recognition for their relationships as heterosexual couples.”
“We shouldn’t lose sight of the fact we are dealing with serious issues of human dignity and illegal discrimination in this debate. [LGBT rights] is a cause that all of us in this place should take seriously.”
Watch below:
h/t PinkNews
kofender
Bravo, MP Watts. Totally from the heart and very moving indeed. So far as MP Abetz is concerned, well, he is clearly an idiot (I’d say what I really think but it involves a lot of four-letter words).
Billy Budd
Nice guy.
Chris
I remember those days when so many of us died of AIDS. Pardon me while I go wipe away my tears. This was moving because it was from the heart.
odawg
What is this wet stuff on my face?
Brian JC Kneeland
he is not allowing free speech in his country by its politicians!
Giancarlo85
Well Australia… I feel a bit of pity but this is what happens when you elect right wing assholes. What has Tony Abbott done for the country? Absolutely nothing. How is the austerity failure? Keep electing idiots like that one. Now some right wing gays on this site want to elect austerity nutcases in America… doesn’t really surprise me.
If you elect idiots like Tony Abbott you’ll get idiotic results.
Bill Pappas
Why is my country that I RESPECT AND ADMIRE so oblivious to change AND acceptance ,so primitive AND backwards. DISAPPOINTED!
russellhm
Tony Abbott, Aussie Prime Minister and head of its Liberal Party, is not our kind of liberal. Calling gay marriage, the “fashion of the moment,” made sure that the recent bill was roundly defeated. Testimony on his behalf, cited Dolce and Gabbana, Aussies designers and life-partners, as not wanting to get married. A lot of gay Aussies don’t care about getting married, say Abbott supporters in Parliament. They’re simply “outback trolls!”