Magda Szubanski nails same-sex marriage debate on Q&A

MAGDA Szubanski took aim at her fellow Q&A guests last night as the show’s same-sex marriage debate turned bitter.

MAGDA Szubanski taken aim at her fellow Q&A guests last night as the show’s same-sex marriage debate turned bitter.

It comes as the postal survey — which will quantify Australia’s attitude towards same-sex marriage — deadline looms with just two weeks left to vote.

Ms Szubanski weighed in on debate on the ABC’s Q&A last night. She was joined on the panel by host Tony Jones, Anglican Archbishop of Sydney Glenn Davies, Jesuit priest and law professor Frank Brennan and No campaign spokesman Karina Okotel.

Tensions rose just a few minutes into the show when Ms Okotel suggested that civil unions should be for gay people and marriage only between a man and a woman.

“You can’t change an institution that has always existed without there being consequences,” Ms Okotel said.

Ms Szubanksi hit back with a seemingly limitless supply of well-researched statistics and arguments.

“You’re sending a very clear message of equal but different,” Ms Szubanksi said.

She said having different rules for gay and straight marriages was akin to a gay AFL player winning the Brownlow Medal but instead being given “the civil acknowledgment of your very excellent effort” award.

She later refuted claims same-sex marriage would alter society’s view on men and women, saying that gay people were a “really small percentage of the population”.

“You can’t breed us out of existence because we do originate mostly from straight people. But there does seem to be a constant number of roughly 10% of same-sex attracted people,” she said.

“It’s not like there’s an army of us who are going to take over. We just want to have the same rights and protections.”

Magda: "You can't breed us out of existence because we do originate mostly from straight people." #qanda

— Lane Sainty (@lanesainty) October 23, 2017

Marriage equality takes from no one. Will make profound difference to lives & dignity of LGBTI Australians, their family & friends #QandA

— AU Marriage Equality (@AMEquality) October 23, 2017

“Believe me, this is coming on the tail end of the oppressions that we’ve been through and I don’t want to come across as a whinger but we have to acknowledge the history of this,” Ms Szubanski said.

“What it would mean to us to be fully acknowledged, I don’t know if you can really understand after the bashings, the discriminations, the murders. This isn’t just out of the blue. It comes within an historical context.

“How would you feel if Sri Lankan people were told that you can’t be married?”

ABC Q & A panellist Karina Okotel is against same-sex marriage.

Jesuit priest Frank Brennan said he “believe(s) Magda cannot have a sacramental marriage in the Catholic Church”.

“But I believe she can have a civil marriage in Australia and I actually think God would be happy with that,” he said.

“In terms of the question of the civil law I see it as quite a different question from that about the dogma within the Church.”

Ms Szubanski said she accepted that the church would “never marry” her but the notion she couldn’t marry outside of it “grieves me in ways you will never know”.

I AM A PROUD MUSLIM AND I VOTED YES TO SAME SEX MARRIAGE BECAUSE RELIGIOUS BELIEF SHOULD NOT JUSTIFY DISCRIMINATION.#QandA

— 🌈Arkady 💥🌷 (@Arkady2009) October 23, 2017

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion BUT they're not entitled to their own facts! #QandA

— Ian Thorpe (@IanThorpe) October 23, 2017

“I’m the one in my family when I buried my parents I organised every detail of the masses, I wrote the orders of service, I put the pall over my mother’s coffin,” she said.

“Now I accept the Catholic Church will never marry me but you won’t even let me marry outside the Church.

“Why is it your right to determine — fair enough, in your domain, you do what you like. We live in a live and let live society. I don’t want to tell anyone else what to do. Why should you have the right to tell me or any other person, straight or gay, what they do in the civil domain? “That’s not your domain.”

ABC's Q & A panellist Frank Brennan is a Jesuit priest and chief executive of Catholic Social Services Australia.

Q & A panellist Magda Szubanski was a hit with the overwhelming majority of viewers who tweeted in support of her stance on same-sex marriage.

More than 70 per cent of same-sex marriage survey forms have already been returned. Equality Campaign executive director Tiernan Brady is confident the majority of Australians will back changing the Marriage Act.

#qanda "The Church doesn't tell the country what to think" says ArchBishop Davies while donating $1m to do just that

— Allan Green (@Tank9999) October 23, 2017

I just want to take a moment to acknowledge how prepared and well research @MagdaSzubanski is for tonight. She's killing it. #qanda

— Alex West (@akwest1) October 23, 2017

@MagdaSzubanski you are excellent in argument, facts and heart. #qanda

— Julia Zemiro (@julia_zemiro) October 23, 2017

But Australian Conservatives leader Cory Bernardi doesn’t accept there will be an overwhelming ‘yes’ vote to the same-sex marriage postal survey. He believes people are feeling under pressure from political correctness and are saying they voted “yes”, even if they have voted “no”.

“I’m not even conceding defeat quite frankly. I think there are a great many people who are deeply concerned about the potential consequences of changing the marriage act,” Senator Bernardi told Sky News on Sunday.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics will release results of the survey on November 15.