When the same-sex marriage bill was going through the UK parliament in 2012-13 many of its opponents made dire predictions of the negative consequences that would follow.
We were told that if marriage equality became law critics would face legal sanctions; schools would be required to promote same-sex marriage; and that churches would be forced to conduct weddings between people of the same gender.
There were also claims same-sex marriage was part of a grand plot to undermine the family; leading to the legalisation of polygamy, bestiality and paedophila.
None of these scare-mongering predictions have come true. British life has carried on as before; the only difference being that LGBT people can now marry the person they love.
It is sad to see these same scare-mongering tactics being used in Australia today. I heard some of them from the pastor of my mother’s church in Queensland. When I challenged him about all the terrible things he claimed had happened since European countries equalised marriage, he could not provide a single scrap of evidence. Yet I know that his preaching has impacted on members of his congregation and encouraged some of them to vote no in the postal survey in the belief that very bad things will happen if equal marriage becomes law.
What some Christian opponents of equal marriage say has fuelled intolerance and prejudice; reinforcing the notion that LGBT people are inferior and not deserving of equal rights. Their attitude seem far removed from Christ’s teachings of love and compassion. As I said to my mother’s pastor: Discrimination is not a Christian value.
Bizarrely, critics of equal marriage claimed in Britain, and claim now in Australia, that banning same-sex couples from marriage is not discrimination. They point to states where LGBT people can have a registered partnership or a civil union/civil partnership. Hang on! If any group of people are denied access to an existing law for any reason, that is discrimination. In a great democracy like Australia, everyone should have equal legal rights and responsibilities, including in marriage law.
Opponents of marriage equality in the UK used to argue that they were defending “the traditional definition of marriage.” Oh, really? I now hear the same arguments being voiced by conservative politicians and some people of faith in Australia.
Marriage has been redefined, for the better, dozens of times over the centuries. The traditional Biblical-era marriage treated women as the property of men, allowed rape in marriage, included men having multiple wives (but not the other way around), forbade divorce and remarriage, and involved the often arranged or forced marriage of 12- to 13-year-old girls to much older men. The churches supported these traditional versions of marriage for hundreds of years. It was only gradually, and often reluctantly over many centuries, that they accepted the redefinition of marriage to end these evils. Since they’ve conceded the redefinition of marriage in the past, why can’t they do so now, in order to include loving same-sex couples?
In Britain, many traditional marriage advocates today admit, against their own expectations, that far from weakening or undermining marriage, extending it to same-couples has given marriage, which was previously declining among heterosexuals, a boost and renewed popularity.
Despite objections to equal marriage by church leaders, 55% of people of faith in the UK in 2012-13 supported the right of same-sex couples to marry in civil ceremonies in register offices. The percentage is now thought to be even higher. I am heartened to learn that 54% of Australian Christians also support marriage equality.
Same-sex marriage has become part of the taken-for-granted fabric of British life. The weddings of two men or two women hardly merit a second glance. The vast majority of people are totally relaxed about marriage being inclusive. Their only anxieties are what to wear on the big day and what presents to buy the happy couple.
Most religious leaders in the UK now accept that equal marriage is here to stay and have ceased campaigning against it. Some, such as the Archbishop of Canterbury, have conceded that Anglican opposition to marriage equality made the church look bigoted. He has since expressed regret at the church’s historic ill-treatment of LGBT people; in particular the way it often endorsed homophobic discrimination and resisted LGBT equality.
To the critics and doubters, I say: Take heart my fellow Australians. In a few years, you’ll look back and wonder what all the fuss was about and why marriage equality took so long to become law.
- Peter Tatchell is a Melbourne-born LGBT and human rights defender, now based in London. He is director of the Peter Tatchell Foundation
