Julia’s still in the dark ages

This article bothers me.  It’s the activist in me raising up again.  Being a gay man myself I think it’s more the discrimination against us as a ‘community’ than it is actually about marriage.  "Gillard is stuck in the past" and that’s exactly true.

Part of me thinks it’s because of the tourism Mardi Gras brings, but it’s definitely not all that.  If we had gay marriage in our country, then all those signs and rainbow flags and 27 years of protest marching in every city around the country would all change.  What would we march and chant to then?  I don’t think that Mardi Gras would stop being what it is, it’s already become a celebration event more than a protest march years and years ago, but if we had gay marriage legalised, then it truly would be a real celebration.  =)  I mean, I don’t even know if I could marry another guy.  I guess the way society has been since I’ve been around has just ingrained and I’ve gone to soo many ‘traditional’ weddings over the years and each time I sit at a wedding, a little part of it always crosses my mind – "I can never do this.  That man and woman smiling at each other intently over the alter, is not offered to me by law."  THAT’s what shits me.  That’s discrimination right there.  If I wanted to marry someone if I even ever did fall in love, I’d want the option.  The fact that someone else makes the decisions on who can and who can’t get married, especially in the year 2011, completely baffles me.  So what Aussies have to do, if move to another country where it IS legal and stay there because once they cross back over into Australian waters, it’s no longer recognised.  Yet Centrelink is happy to recognise gay couples.  Boy did that piss me royally off when that was introduced not long ago.  They act like they are all supportive, but they only want to see gays are married so they can pay them the same rates as straight marital couples, and in a lot of cases, a joint payment is much less than two individual ones because they weren’t recognised before.

So Centrelink is happy to take money, and the government is happy to stay in the last century.  And they call Australia a developed country.

There’s been more than enough activist rants from me.  The sooner the leader of our country grows up and get’s a real gay friend so see how much it actually hurts a lot of people, the sooner we can truly be a world-class country.

The stupid churches aren’t helping, and they never will.  I feel like the only time I’ll ever set foot in one of those again is when someone’s getting baptised, mourned or married.

I read in the paper at work today that Bloggers and Tweeters now have the same rights under law as Journalists do.  Yikes, we didn’t before!? 😛