Mr Brady’s travelling smoke-and-mirrors show has visited Tamworth and moved on to Armidale. As expected his show did little to enlighten us about the “Marriage equality” promotion, other than to reiterate “sharing personal stories with community…rather than focusing on human rights” makes “the issues more real”. (NDL, March 15, p.2)
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Brady did mention “cherishing the values we’ve had for generations”, and that “everyone needs access to them”, because they “fit with values we’ve always wanted and what we love about ourselves”. We have to ask what these “values” are and what has changed them over “generations”, such that the LGBTI community feel they have not got them today. This is the heart of the question today.
The trouble is that we already know what sorts of consequences follow our governments playing around with marriage.
Gough Whitlam and Lionel Murphy inflicted the “No fault divorce” laws on Australia in 1975. The Family Court was established. This was a boon to the more privileged members of our society. But it was a major problem for the poorer and more vulnerable people.
The “latch-key” children, and at least two generations of children being raised in single parent homes, with declining resources, were direct consequences. Such people have found it hard to break their poverty cycles and enjoy constant employment and secure incomes, other than those paid by governments.
A few people gained from this law; but many more suffered needlessly. By removing the central concern with individual responsibility in all marriages, the marriage vows became largely irrelevant, and commitment to each other and all children was simply jettisoned.
We already know that we have to be very concerned when governments start playing around with changes to marriage.
We know, from overseas surveys that same-sex marriage is no more solid than heterosexual marriage, and that there are more psychological problems evident in same-sex marriages. It would be illuminating if Mr Brady would explain something about this problem, and how his “values” would help.
Constantly singing the old song: “love and marriage go together like a horse and carriage” is simply not enough when we consider marriage in all its requirements.
Mr Brady and his bunch are singing out of tune in all this.
Bruce Watson
Kentucky