Gay marriage plebiscite set for February

A plebiscite on gay marriage has been announced for February 11, 2017.

It will ask the Australian public to vote on one question: “Should the law be changed to allow same sex couples to be married?”

Each side of the debate will be funded with $7.5m of government coin – that would be money to lobby the public to sway their vote either for or against.


Prepare yourself for an onslaught of crap-tastic television commercials; the media has confirmed that they will be forced to run all of the ads, regardless of how many bold-faced lies they include.

This is on top of the tens of millions of dollars that will be spent and have been spent debating whether or not we should have the ridiculous plebiscite in the first place.

I call it ridiculous, because it’s insane to me that we are still debating this. It’s a hugely divisive topic, but I struggle to understand how people are against love.

Gay people should be treated equal to straight people.

Just as women should be treated equal to straight people.

I understand that some people have religious beliefs that may skew their views, but those views are outdated. We live in a society where no-fault divorce means heterosexuals have done a great job of desecrating ‘the sacred institute of marriage’ long before Adam and Steve could get a run at it.

At this stage the whole debate is hugely politicised so there’s a good chance we won’t get to vote on it anyway.

Bill Shorten has hinted that they may block the plebiscite in the Senate, and has suggested that a campaign could be “an emotional torment for teenagers. If one child commits suicide over the plebiscite that is one too many.”

It’s hard to know whether Shorten genuinely means this, or whether it’s more lip service to a controversial issue that will garner him a few more headlines.

If he means it, then I have to say I *gasp!* agree with Shorten.

Imagine being a teenager and having your entire country vote on whether you have marriage rights or not? Whether you are ‘normal’ enough to get married?

I surely hope the Australian people have the common sense to vote yes so we can put this whole, sorry moment in time behind us.