‘Yes’ vote campaign must be carried out with respect and dignity
MARRIAGE equality will take nothing from anyone — no one will be less married the day it happens and no one will be more gay, writes Tiernan Brady.
Opinion
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MARRIAGE equality has always been so much more than a political issue.
It’s not the same as asking people whether we should build a train line or lower taxes.
Marriage equality is about the lives of real people we know. It’s about members of our families,
our friends, our neighbours and our colleagues and whether they should have the same status and dignity in life as everyone else.
That means every word uttered in this national discussion hits home in a very personal way to LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex) Australians and everyone who knows and loves them.
As a campaign, we understand this. We know that the tone we set matters as we take this journey. We take our responsibility in setting that positive and respectful tone very seriously.
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That is why we are committed to a campaign of conversations, not angry debates. The vast majority of these conversations will not happen on the airwaves or in the papers. They will take place at dinner tables, kitchens and lunch rooms across the country.
We need to create an engaging tone that allows people to have these conversations and to ask their genuine questions.
No one was ever won over to marriage equality by being called a homophobe. There is no one who, upon being called a bigot, clutched their pearls, thanked their accuser and promised to support them.
Marriage equality is not a “what”. It is a “who”. The real stories of people allow others to understand that. Nothing a national campaign can do will be as effective as a million Australians talking about their lives and aspirations to the people who surround them.
The frustration gay and lesbian people feel in the middle of this is understandable. They hear the daily misdirection from the hard-line opponents of marriage equality who have deliberately given up campaigning on the issue, itself, as we witnessed last week with their first ad.
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The ad, which purported to be against marriage equality, managed to never talk about marriage but instead presented a series of false misdirections.
There’s a sound reason for this: the campaigners against marriage equality understand that the Australian people have long since made their minds up to support equal dignity for family and friends who happen to be gay.
So if you can’t win the argument, you have to try to trick people into thinking that it’s about something else.
The Australian people aren’t going to fall for it. They understand that marriage equality is not a change in the value of fairness, which they have long held dear, but rather a confirmation of it.
That is why the hardliners who made this ad, who are not representative of those who have genuine questions, pretend it is about a whole array of other topics that have nothing to do with marriage equality.
A daily diet of red herrings are now being produced ranging from political correctness to false stories about classrooms.
The dishonest strategy behind this deliberate misdirection is undoubtedly infuriating for lesbian and gay people, their family, and friends, but together we must find within us a steely determination not to be provoked. We must campaign with the very dignity we seek.
We know that words can inflict real harm when used recklessly. We have witnessed that over the past few days with the publication of a range of posters and leaflets which talk about LGBTI people in a hate-filled and dishonest way that the vast majority of Australians would find repugnant, regardless of their views on marriage equality.
Those of us in positions of responsibility across society — from campaigners to ministers, bishops to employers — have a duty to call out such viciousness to help ameliorate its impact.
This is not a normal political campaign. It is not simply about winners and losers because the one thing we can all be assured of is that we will have to share the same country the day after this process finishes.
Winning for the marriage equality campaign is not about beating anyone.
Our goal is to win people over, not marginalise those who disagree with us.
We want to reassure those who have genuine questions as we seek the same opportunities for all Australians.
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Lesbian and gay people understand the impact of marginalisation.
For us to simply wish to swap places with our opponents would not create the type of country we all wish to live in.
This must be a moment where we move forward and emerge in a shared community where all can be equally respected in the eyes of the law.
We know that marriage equality will take nothing from anyone.
No one will be less married the day it happens and no one will be more gay.
It is a true example of something we can do that comes at no cost to anyone yet will have a profoundly positive impact on some people who for the first time will see themselves as full members of the nation they are part of, and proud of.
We have a duty to make sure that this campaign is one that aims to unite the country around a value the clear majority of Australians have supported for many years.
We must all vote with our consciences but also campaign with respect for each other and, most importantly, with respect for the people whose dignity it is that we are weighing and judging.
Tiernan Brady is Executive Director of the Equality Campaign. He was political director of the Irish Yes Equality campaign
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