Marriage Equality Referendum is about how you really feel about gay people

ONE WEEK from Friday, we’ll have the chance to amend the constitution and allow marriage equality for all.

Previously, two constitutional referenda on marriage were held to allow for divorce. Arguably divorce does undermine marriage. But the decision we took — and there is no sign that we regret it — was that because life is often messy and sometimes hard, people deserve a chance to move on if they want to. I mention divorce because if there are fundamental principles at stake, rationally it was a far bigger jump to allow for the dissolution of civil marriage then than to extend the institution intact now.

I don’t for a moment underestimate the extent of the change being contemplated. But the jump we are considering in nine days’ time isn’t primarily about principles at all. It is much more personal and it is about ourselves. It is about how we really feel about gay people. It’s about how comfortable we are with them, really. Lots of us know, work with, or have family who are gay. And of course, the decent people we are — mostly — we are fine. But maybe we are fine, only up to a point. Good to have them there, and not harassed by laws that made it illegal just to be gay in any meaningful way.