Malcolm Turnbull has expressed confidence that a marriage equality plebiscite will be civil and respectful. Unfortunately, LGBTI Australians do not share that confidence. And they have good reason not to.
There are already plenty of examples of hateful, offensive attacks on LGBTI Australians designed to kill support for marriage equality, which will only ramp up in the plebiscite.
Earlier in 2016, the ad standards board banned a Marriage Alliance ad depicting a rainbow noose around a praying woman’s neck with the tagline “same-sex marriage increases PC bullying”.
In 2015, the Catholic church distributed pamphlets deriding same-sex relationships as “friendships” which, unlike “real marriage”, are not “ordered towards the generation and wellbeing of children”.
In February, a former Liberal MP printed pamphlets claiming children of same-sex couples may be more likely to be victims of sexual abuse, abuse drugs or suffer depression.
Liberal senator Cory Bernardi was demoted in 2012 after warning same-sex marriage would lead to polygamy, and linking it to acceptance of bestiality.
It’s material like this that is behind Australian Marriage Equality’s opposition to a plebiscite. Its position is supported by Labor, the Greens and the nascent LGBTI rights party, the Equality Party.
On Sunday, Labor leader Bill Shorten warned a plebiscite would be a “platform for homophobia”.
On Northern Territory radio on Tuesday, Malcolm Turnbull dismissed this as a “scare campaign”. This was overreach, and Turnbull has not repeated it. It implied concerns that a plebiscite would harm vulnerable LGBTI people were not genuinely held.
That’s hard to maintain in the face of Penny Wong sharing her experience about the abuse and assaults LGBTI people suffer in a speech on Tuesday. Wong warned a plebiscite campaign would license hate speech, and straight politicians couldn’t understand the fear LGBTI people experience about expressing their love.
In response, the treasurer, Scott Morrison, claimed he and religious opponents of marriage equality also face hatred and bigotry.
Greens LGBTI spokesman Robert Simms said: “I don’t think Mr Morrison has been in fear or persecuted or denied equal rights on the basis of his identity.”
He called it a “slap in the fact to LGBTI Australians”, who still suffer verbal and physical abuse, who feel uncomfortable holding their partners’ hands for fear of the reaction it will provoke.
Jason Tuazon McCheyne, a marriage celebrant, a Christian and a former Christian minister running for a senate seat with the Equality Party, made a similar point.
“Young Christian teenagers aren’t six times more likely to attempt to commit suicide, like LGBTI youth are. I’m sure Scott Morrison can hold his wife’s hand without facing abuse,” he said.
“There’s a big difference between a real threat of violence and merely confronting disagreement with the majority, who support same-sex marriage, when yours is no longer the majority view.”
Australian Marriage Equality national spokeswoman Shirleene Robinson said it wanted a free vote in parliament, not a plebiscite, because it would be the least costly and easiest way to achieve marriage equality.
“But if we have to go to a plebiscite, we’re concerned to make sure it’s as respectful as possible to what is a marginalised community,” she said.
The question now is: how can we ensure a civil debate, given the hate campaign we know is waiting in the wings? People are free to say that marriage should remain between a man and a woman, but LGBTI people are faced with material that implies they are a threat to their children and religious freedom. Outfits that consider themselves more respectable, like the Australian Christian Lobby, may finesse the message but we must be vigilant the subtext of campaigning is not disparagement of LGBTI people.
Malcolm Turnbull supports marriage equality and has said he and his wife Lucy will encourage their fellow Australians to vote yes. He’s also condemned the views of Sheikh Shady Alsuleiman, who attended Turnbull’s Iftar dinner and had previously claimed that gay people spread disease.
But Turnbull has said nothing about homophobic material like the Marriage Alliance’s “rainbow noose” ad, nor explained how he can be so confident debate will be civil in the face of evidence to the contrary.
When asked on ABC’s Q&A on Monday to condemn homophobic statements by Bernardi and George Christensen, all he could muster was that he’d had “firm discussions” with his colleagues, which Bernardi contradicted.
Robinson said: “If homophobic comments are made, we would expect to see leadership in addressing that, for leaders to say that’s not how the debate should be conducted. We should all be advocating for a positive campaign, which is focused on our shared values of fairness and equality.”
That’s what we need now. Not hope that the plebiscite campaign will be civil, in the face of obvious evidence to the contrary. But leadership to condemn homophobia wherever it rears its head, not just around one’s own dinner table but in one’s own political party and around the country.
