As more details of the economic and social costs of the marriage equality plebiscite emerge, and more of the movement’s traditional champions come out against it, it beggars belief how anyone purporting to represent the LGBTIQ community can, in good conscience, support it.
Like many I will find it impossible not to join the fight against the conservative “no” campaign … so why can’t I bring myself to fight for “yes”?
While there are some for whom a “yes” vote for marriage equality is the next big step in most important issue in their lives, there are others that see the “no” vote movement for what it is: another knot in the long unbroken line of oppression and opposition that binds us all as queer people.
If you believe in the value of intersectionality, the fight against the “no” movement is an opportunity to take these conservative and oppressive types down at least one more peg. The recent ideological war being waged against Safe Schools shows the utter contempt that conservative governments, lobby groups, and certain newspapers have for us in the queer community.
So regardless of how we as queer people feel about marriage equality – personally I preferred it when our community tried to dismantle patriarchal institutions instead of joining them – surely we must agree that those who oppose us en masse must be stopped?
While this is true, and even perhaps more pertinent when you think of the harm the plebiscite will unleash, for some us the marriage equality movement has resulted in too many losses for the queer community. We have traded authenticity for acceptance, radical thought for respect, and so far all we have to very little real progress to show for it.
The swing towards marriage equality as the cause célèbre of our time is the gradual and pernicious result of the rise of respectability politics, which these days goes largely unchallenged as the dominant model for LGBTIQ people wishing to affect change. That’s partly because in these increasingly conservative times, respectability politics allows single-issue movements a rapid route to the corridors of powers.
That problematic route, however, was freed up as a result of the most significant tragedy to ever visit our community. Today, we would not have the powerful block of conservative gay men and women who prioritise their right to get married over any other queer cause had we not lost so many others to Aids.
One could argue that it was during the height of the Aids crisis that respectability politics really took hold. The epidemic took many of our boldest gay elders and mentors, and it was over their dead bodies that stepped a new type of empowered gay man who sought power via acceptance, not rebellion.
As the truly devastating impact of Aids came into focus, this new movement was quick to chide the dead and dying for this perceived recklessness, blaming their never-to-grow-old elders for what was an unimaginable crisis.
Our brief respite from internalised gay shame, barely alive long enough to travel beyond the urban capitals of the then-Western world, was quickly snuffed out. What followed were years of fear, blame, and death. Meanwhile, it wasn’t enough to simply want to survive. To be a “good gay” suddenly meant putting as much distance between you and Aids. Sadly, that part remains largely unchanged.
Today, we have a responsibility to the generation following us. How must it seem to them, that we would gamble on this plebiscite because our impatience to get married outweighed their safety? How could we ask them to align themselves with the increasingly divided LGBTIQ community, when by agreeing to the plebiscite we’re ostensibly saying we’re happy to see every queer person subjected to an ugly public debate? Simply because, for some of us, marriage is the defining issue of our time - but perhaps not theirs.
I do sincerely hope that all my LGBTIQ friends, colleagues, and family members deeply invested in marriage equality achieve their goal in the near future. Regardless of how we as a community view the fight for marriage equality, this plebiscite places us all in the same boat. Now is the time to show the next generation we can come together and weather the impending storm. To be better than we have been.
I will honour my elders, living and dead, in joining the fight against the “no” campaign, but I cannot stand alongside any movement claiming to represent queer people who agree to this government’s plebiscite.
Those who do agree to the plebiscite now may believe that an early seat at the table affords them important influence, but they’ll be dining on the rest of us in the process.
