Alex Greenwich: It’s Time. We Need You To Fight For Marriage Equality

It’s crunch time for marriage equality, with a vote on the reform potentially looming next week. Australian Marriage Equality co-chair Alex Greenwich writes on the how we got here and where we’re headed.

Marriage equality is closer than it has ever been before, but we’re not there yet and the clock is ticking for us to get it over the line — we need your help.

The strong and active backing for this straightforward reform has inspired support from coast to coast and from local councils to major corporations.

Thanks to the power of people sharing their personal stories on why marriage equality matters to them, we now have Liberal Senator Dean Smith working on legislation, with a number of coalition MPs coming out and saying parliament needs to vote on this so we can all finally move forward.

How did we get here? Well we know in 2004 John Howard amended the Marriage Act to exclude gay and lesbian Australians, then in 2015 Tony Abbott threw the plebiscite curve ball in an attempt to stymie progress. The good news is that despite all these hurdles, everyday Australians have jumped over them and got us close to the finish line.

Having been involved in this issue for over a decade this is the first time a process is in place to actually achieve the reform, and the numbers are almost there.

There have been various Greens, Labor and crossbench bills over the years, each have served an important purpose of building support and drawing attention to the issue, but none have had a more genuine chance of passing and gone through a more robust process.

At the end of last year the senate established a special inquiry on what marriage equality legislation should look like, following a robust process consulting with lawyers, faith leaders, and thousands of same-sex marriage supporters, the Liberal, National, Labor, Green and Xenophon Senators reached a consensus report.

As Senator Penny Wong said at the time “the clouds of partisanship have parted”. Now those recommendations are being turned into legislation, and there is much discussion about how that gets into parliament, and then hopefully passes.

Looking at where the numbers are now, we have most of the Labor party and cross bench ready to vote yes, and the support is growing in the coalition. Just this week Liberal backbencher, Jason Wood joined a growing number of coalition MPs to say he will vote for it.

It's been a long time coming & looks it's game on! To get #marriageequality across the line contact your MP now via https://t.co/yK20ZfPzXD

— Alex Greenwich MP (@AlexGreenwich) July 31, 2017

Getting to this point, has been the result of tireless campaigning across many years and from many people. Mums and dads have lobbied their MPs and Senators, rural and regional Australians have started strong community campaigns, people have spoken up at Town Hall forums and got the message across loud and clear to Canberra that we are a nation that values fairness and equality.

Things will get harder as we approach a vote in parliament. During this time it’s vital we do all we can to support those champion government MPs who are standing up for fairness, and showing commitment to a better Australia.

They are cutting through the noise of political process and focussing on the people this reform is about and the national pride it will bring when we finally achieve this together.

It’s all getting very exciting, but please don’t just sit back and just watch it all unfold, get on the phone and call your MPs and Senators, and if you already have, get your parents to.

If marriage equality passes, it could that phone call, and your story, that won over the needed votes.

Let’s do this.

—

Alex Greenwich is the NSW MP for Sydney and co-chair of Australian Marriage Equality. He tweets at @AlexGreenwich