En Passant

200 people demonstrated on Saturday in Petrie Plaza in Canberra for marriage equality.

Labor in Tasmania will introduce a full marriage equality Bill by the end of the year. In South Australia Labor Party Premier Jay Weatherill has come out in support of a Greens’ Bill for marriage equality in that state.

And what did the ALP and Greens serve up to the marriage equality demonstrators in Canberra? A warmed over civil unions Bill from 2006.

We made it clear this was a consolation prize – bronze if you like, instead of gold.

Tasmania and South Australia are going for gold, and here in this most progressive of cities, the fake left that is the ALP and the neoliberals on bikes that are the Greens offer gay and lesbians second class citizenship in the form of civil unions.

Why?

The answer for Labor is pretty clear.

The Gallagher Labor Government here in the Territory is fearful of splitting its ranks in the run up to the October election. In effect civil unions are the way Ministers Corbell and Barr think they can pander to the bigots who infest and infect the ALP and to progressives at the same time.

It is why ACT Labor policy is not to recognise marriage equality but is a load of waffle about the equality of all loving relationships with no commitment by the Party to same sex marriage.

There is another reason for ACT Labor to not introduce same sex marriage laws. It is to save Julia Gillard from having to screw the ACT and ACT Labor over by moving to overturn the putative laws in the federal parliament.

Gillard depends for support as Prime Minister on the homophobes in the Joe de Bruyn faction. It is one of the reasons why she has backtracked on marriage equality and joined the bigots in proclaiming marriage to be between a man and a woman.

There is no constitutional or legal reason preventing the ACT Labor government and the ACT Greens from legislating for same sex marriage in the Territory tomorrow. None whatsoever.

The Assembly has the power to make laws for the peace, order and good government of the Territory. Nothing in the Self Government Act prevents Labor and the Greens in the Territory from passing a marriage equality Bill tomorrow.

Of course, to pass such a Bill would put the Federal Labor Government in an embarrassing position. Gillard and the other Labor bigots who prop her up would have to decide if they should overturn any marriage equality law in the ACT.

They can only do that by passing legislation through both Houses overriding any Territory gay marriage law.

That would expose Gillard Labor for what it really is – socially conservative and responsive to what it imagines its dwindling base actually wants. Yet poll after poll shows a big majority of voters favour gay marriage and the figure is even larger among voters aged 18 to 24.

Gay marriage laws in the ACT would show up the Prime Minister as an unprincipled politician prepared to abandon gays and lesbians to remain in the position of Prime Minister.

So her acolytes in ACT Labor are trying to save her from that embarrassment and predicament by only moving for civil unions. This is their ‘let’s pretend to be progressive’ sop when in fact they are accepting and reinforcing the idea that marriage is between a man and a woman and legislating for second class citizenship for gays and lesbians and others who want to marry, as heterosexual Australians can do.

The disgrace in all of this is the Greens. They will support the civil unions’ Bill on the basis that it is better than nothing. That is true.

A bronze medal is better than nothing, but why settle for second or third best when gold is achievable?

Why won’t the Greens introduce a Bill into the ACT Parliament this week legalising same sex marriage in the ACT?

Surely they aren’t beholden to Labor?

Given the ACT Greens are parliamentary cretins, it actually makes good electoral sense to introduce such a Bill in the run up to the election in October. It would expose the ACT Labor Party’s hypocrisy on this issue; it would differentiate the Greens from their ACT Labor Party de facto coalition partners and even split the fake unity in the ALP; and it would win widespread support for the Greens.

On top of that, given the election is only 2 months away, it would end the perceived closeness of the Greens to a do nothing Labor Party without any damage for the Greens and give them good progressive cover. Heavens knows they need it given the failure of their 4 years in bed with ACT Labor to produce any fundamental change.

Maybe the Greens are beholden to Labor. Maybe their commitment to marriage equality is just so much rhetoric. Maybe they like Labor are afraid of their own shadows and don’t want to upset conservative elements before or after the election. Maybe they are fake social leftists.

We chanted on the rally that we want marriage equality now. Not the second class citizenship that is civil unions but full marriage equality. Speaker after speaker argued for it. Over to you to deliver, ACT Greens, not in some distant future but this week.

My earlier post ‘Same sex marriage: let’s all follow Tasmania’ deals with similar issues.

Comments (hit the link under the heading) close after 7 days.