same sex marriage, almost.

Good evening Julia. I would like to quickly preface this by saying I appreciate you have no time to sift through enquiries of this nature right now. I merely hope that this someday gets to your attention and that on a human level you are able to read with an open mind. It would affirm my original respect for you as a person and a prime minister, while also galvanizing my support for politics in general.

I support you, almost. Your speech carried me today, almost. You say you want to move australia forward... but it's 'almost' at best. Why? Because people in same-sex relationships in this country ...have similar rights to their heterosexual counterparts... almost. I am articulating this point as myself: a twenty two year old male who is a free thinking conservative that cares about personal human rights struggles. Please listen because this is not just a same-sex seeking struggle, I believe it is a fundamental human rights issue that needs to be resolved sooner rather than later.

I must impart in the most passionate way I can over text, that I feel each and every single day we discriminate there is irrevocable damage being done. Damage that is direct.


1) Damage to children who have same-sex parents, they grow up in a household that is fundamentally disabled from accessing basic human rights protections as their friends, and neighbors.

2) Damage to teenagers and younger adults who are gay or lesbian and are struggling to deal with the sheer fact that who they are puts them at odds with societies most fundamental ideals and expectations for normalcy, responsibility and family. I have had two friends commit suicide for this very reason and hence my incredibly staunch opinions on this highly sensitive topic.

3) Damage to the safety of any citizen who is perceived as a homosexual by a bigoted other. Hate crimes due to sexuality are common and only fueled by the very basic illegality of the relationships. Banning same-sex marriage on a legal level while the church brands gay people as intrinsically evil and the most dangerous and insidious threat to society does nothing to make more heterosexual couples live stably and have more children. It only serves to harm and disable an entire section of society for the vague end goal of "preserving tradition," much like when Mildred Loving fought against reasons for banning inter-racial marriage in Loving V Virginia 1967 (united states supreme court ruling banning inter-racial marriage bans countrywide).

As of 17th July 2010, Argentina became the tenth country in the world since 2001 to legalize same-sex marriage. So far, that means one country has been allowing for their GLBT citizens the same liberties and freedoms each eleven months. Five years ago, only two countries had allowed same-sex marriage which only points to one thing: an avalanche of countries affirming liberty across the entire sexual orientation paradigm, which leads me to my next point. The negative consequences of banning full marriage rights to all people.

1) Australia will be seen as a country going backwards, living in the past, and stuck in a rut of permanence to elderly ideals (which used to force gender and race into submission until world perceptions against persecution for these were smashed to pieces) in recent history.

2) Your entire speech about moving 'forward' as a nation 'together' will become yet another mouthpiece with no intended real meaning for so many people who are GLBT, who know people who are GLBT or who like me, know people who are GLBT and have strong opinions about currently global human rights endeavors.

3) The economy will suffer. Analysts have long predicted that once allowing same-sex marriage, some tens of thousands of gay and lesbian people will boost the economy through weddings, parties, cakes, clothes, you name it. There are some gay couples who have been together up to seventy years, hoping that one day they would be exacted the privilege of being allowed to spend their money and love on each other in a way that affirms the dignity, permanence, honor, community and responsibility of their commitment to eachother as two human people. 

Finally, i'd just like to retrospectively argue some of the reasons you may or may not be opposed to same sex marriage.

Q the tradition family unit is precious and should not be altered drastically, yet (or ever)

A denying two people who inherently and passionately love the same sex will not inspire two people who are inherently and passionately in love with the opposite sex, to live more stable and happy lives.

Q civil unions and domestic partnerships are the right way forward for everybody

A having separate schools and water fountains for black and white people were seen as a 'right way forward' in the fifties when lawyers argued that separate-but-equal clauses were okay. If a gay man enters a marriage registry with some random female off the street and also his male partner of twenty five years, he is only allowed the option of marrying one of those two people based on gender. This is not only sexual orientation abuse but also sex discrimination in its purest form. In 1967 lawyers against the loving v virginia case argued that because black people could marry black people and white people could marry white people that there was simply no real harm done because looking at it plainly neither group were disadvantaged by virtue of their color. It was by virtue of the color of the other person and it's that stance which was defeated with a resounding roar by the supreme court, over fifty years ago now. If i were to want to marry another man, but only had the choice to pick any woman of my liking, that would infringe on a persons right to select the sex they were born to love.

Q churches and religions will be weakened

A there are deliberate and specific ways of being able to legislate for same sex rights while also protecting the church from being forced to change their views and beliefs, practices and traditions within their own walls. Australia is not a one-religion-fits-all country and the reasonable man/woman would agree legislation should not be only based on the transitory moral disapproval of one particular faithful set of the entire population. To do so would be to enforce morals on people who have opted out of living within those confines, and is also a breach on the fundamental human right of religion (as in, being able to choose not to live under it too).

Q it could confuse or upset children

A many children are being and have been raised in homosexual relationships. It's been happening and cannot be ignored. Unless a worldwide mandate to remove all kids from same-sex households passes, then we are actually confusing and upsetting those very children who deserve the basic liberty of being able to know and understand that their parents are in the same relationships as their neighbors and friends. But if that was not enough: it is also imperative those kids parents have the same legal protections for when if worst comes to worst, or emergencies form. To limit marriage rights to the "special" children who have heterosexuals as parents is to unreasonably harm those children who lives in households that the government has decided to keep "less than" only because there is a word called tradition and, tradition is seen as "good".

Of course there are so many more arguments for or against but I will for now end this letter and say I am quite outspoken yes, but I have been thinking hard about the invidious discrimination which permeates our world. It makes me sad. It makes me mad. It makes me wonder how much human people really can empathize and sympathize with each other when a politician like you promises change on one hand, but the 'more of the same thing' on the other.

I would really implore you to reconsider why your government is so adamant that civil unions and partnerships are the only way to move forward. I really would like to see something soon. It would inspire so much hope in so many lives, and touch those who until not long ago society shunned as mental, and worthy of lynching and death purely because they were born in a fashion which led to them becoming homosexual.

Thank you for listening. You are welcome to respond to me at any moment in time. I can be contacted on 0415 xxxxxx. I am also on twitter, http://twitter.com/morganjterrill(i follow you there), and of course my address details have been attached.

Good luck in the election.

Yours faithfully,
Morgan Terrill