Page 5459 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 16 November 2011
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call on the Liberal Party to allow a conscience vote on this issue while, on the other, he is arguing against the Labor Party having a conscience vote. He wants Liberals who have a conscience position in favour of gay marriage to have a free vote, but he wants Labor Party members who have a conscience issue against gay marriage not to have a free vote. There is just an extraordinary disconnect. He is all into conscience as long as they agree with him, and that is an unhelpful place to be. It is very difficult for you to argue that the Liberal Party should allow a conscience vote because the majority of the Liberal Party is against gay marriage but that the Labor Party, where the majority of you appear to be in favour of gay marriage, should not allow a conscience vote and he is all into denying those people their right to vote how they see fit for whatever reason. I think people can see hypocrisy when it is right there in front of them, and I think that is an example.
I want to touch on some of the arguments put by Mr Barr. He is deriding Mr Smyth, because Mr Smyth supports the gay community and he shows that in all sorts of ways. He derides him, and he says, “He doesn’t really support them because he doesn’t support gay marriage,” as if every member of the gay community is in favour of gay marriage. Well, that is not true, and it is an intolerant attitude to suggest that every gay person in Australia or in Canberra is in favour of gay marriage. It is simply not true. There are many high profile examples of people who do not fit into that category.
I want to quote from Simon Berger, for instance, who has quite a high profile in the Liberal Party as a conservative gay man. He has written extensively not just about his views on issues like gay marriage but also on his experience in the Liberal Party and the Labor Party. He says:
As a young, feisty, colourful, agnostic, heavy metal fan from the Labor stronghold of Canberra, I have never fitted the conservative Liberal stereotype. When I “came out” five years ago, I became too much of a contradiction for those who like their people pigeonholed.
And he says:
But contrary to another stereotype, I’ve encountered far less intolerance from conservatives than from gay activists, starting with the very first guy I dated who ended our brief relationship after learning of my political beliefs.
So do not pigeonhole every member of the gay community by saying, “You are only supported if you happen to support a particular political agenda.” People, whatever their background, are free to have views on this issue, and those views should be respected. We see the lack of respect for the alternative views in Mr Barr’s speech, both in his argument against the conscience vote for Labor and for Liberal and in his argument that Mr Smyth somehow does not have credibility simply because he does not support the Labor Party line on this particular issue.
This is what Simon Berger says:
In the absence of widespread consensus or a compelling case for social change, I believe it’s a legitimate role of government to protect the privately evolved and traditional definition of marriage and the family from efforts by unelected courts and advocacy groups to change it.
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