TONY Abbott says he will “do the right thing” and attend his gay sister’s wedding but could never support the marriage.
And his sister Christine Forster’s engagement to partner Virginia Edwards will not dim his Government’s fight against the country’s first same-sex marriage laws in the ACT.
“If there’s a ceremony of some kind, yes, I will be there with a present,” the Prime Minister told 3AW of his sister’s upcoming nuptials.
“I’ll do the right thing.”
But while wishing the couple well, he revealed he saw no way he could ever change his mind and support same-sex marriage.
News.com.au
As someone once said to me if you come across a person who you strongly disagree with, walk a mile in their shoes – that way you’re a long way from them and you’ve got a new pair of shoes.
At various times over the past few months, I’ve tried to force myself to see the world as someone who voted for The Coalition would. And it just makes me more outraged at Abbott than if I was one of those latte-sipping, chardonnay swilling socialists. Honestly, I wanted Mr Action Man up and running fixing all the problems of the country, but instead he’s off somewhere fighting fires. Admirable yes, but that’s not what I expect a PM to do. I want him to stop the rorting of travel allowances, not say that people will always try to cheat, so what can you do? I want Parliament recalled as quickly as possible to repeal this Carbon Tax so my power bill will be next to nothing.
So, I apply my “let’s get a new pair of shoes” thinking to Abbott’s statement about his sister’s wedding.
Ok, let’s start by adopting an anti-gay marriage persona. Mm, even in this persona, the argument that a child has a right to a mother AND a father seems illogical. I mean, are we going to round up all the children of single parents and place them in nice, traditional family because that’s their “right”. Or possibly we could force single parents to find a partner within three months of the child’s birth or the loss of a partner. No, this argument doesn’t satisfy me no matter how hard I try. There are similar problems with the argument that we can’t have same-sex marriage because they can’t have children naturally. Should we demand that of straight couples who use IVF divorce? Or disqualify couples that don’t want children?
The slippery slope argument has some appeal. “If we allow this, next we’ll have to allow polygamy and bestiality.” Of course, if you can find me a goat who can give informed consent and fill out all the necessary paperwork, I’d be prepared to marry her myself. Polygamy. Ok. Yep, the slippery slope sort of works for that.
And, of course, the “it’s against God’s will” argument. That can work, if I close my eyes and imagine Him or Her saying something like, “You’ve got one of your own and that should be enough for you, unless you want to have children in which case you can share it!”
So now I’m all happy. I have my reasons for opposing same sex marriage. It’ll destroy the fabric of society and I’ll have to take on an extra wife, as well as possibly marry a sheep. Allowing gay marriage would be a sin. Like breaking one of the ten commandments. (Although God strangely forgot to include Thou Shalt Not Allow Gay Marriage, and did include something about keeping the Sabbath holy – we may need to shut down shops on Sunday!)
This is where I find Abbott’s comments on his sister’s wedding a little disappointing. As someone who regards all sins as equally against God’s word, let me presume that Gay Marriage is akin to Thou shalt not kill. So instead of his sister’s wedding, let’s imagine another sibling – let’s call him Cain – has a certain desire to kill people and film it. Abbott’s position is now.
TONY Abbott says he will “do the right thing” and attend the event where his brother, Cain intends to make a “snuff film” but could never support the killing.
And his brother’s directorial choices will not dim his Government’s fight against the making of snuff movies in this country.
“If there’s a ceremony of some kind, yes, I will be there at the first screening,” the Prime Minister told 3AW.
“I’ll do the right thing.”
But while wishing the film well, he revealed he saw no way he could ever change his mind and support the making of such films.
Ok, that may seem absurd to some of you. But nowhere near as absurd as Abbott turning up at a gay wedding – even his sister’s – when he argues so strongly against it. When they get to the part about if anyone objects to this wedding, how can Abbott say nothing?
Or is sometimes “doing the right thing” just deciding that it’s their wedding ceremony just because you don’t like it, that’s no reason to interrupt?
The ACT have just passed some laws allowing same sex marriage. Strangely, the Federal Government think it’s ok to interrupt. Not because they don’t like it, mind you, but because they think that marriage laws should be consistent throughout Australia.
There is a simple solution to that which doesn’t require the cost of a High Court Challenge.
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