At Last, But Still Some Way To Go

“It has passed!!”, was the text I received from a colleague late this afternoon. As I was at “Christmas Drinks”, I missed the actual moment when the marriage equality laws passed through the Australian Parliament, but I received a bunch of messages from friends, family and workmates to tell me so.

David Marr summed it up best, when he said…

This is a massive moment. When I was a young man, people like me were sent to jail for having sex. And I’ve lived long enough to see the community welcome this unimaginable thing of saying we can now marry… That’s – that’s a journey. And all those wonderful people – not me – all those wonderful people who fought all those years, all those years, and who risked shame and – do you remember those early debates when people had shit thrown over them when they were debating these issues on ABC TV? Those wonderful warriors, some of them are still around. I honour them. I really honour them.

Though the law changes enable people who are transgender or intersex to also marry (the law no longer defines marriage as between a man and a woman), there are still lots of areas of discrimination. There’s still lots of hatred. People still find it difficult to “come out”. And in many parts of the world people are still being discriminated, or even put to death. A great move in Australia, but there are still lots of “my people” who need help.

“Excellent news. Now I’ll have to find a husband!!”, I replied, to my colleagues text message. “That won’t take you long!!”, she said. The challenge is out there!!!