Shadow attorney general says experience of US and UK suggests Australia cannot take acceptance of same-sex marriage for granted

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

The Australian government must stand ready to fight a US-style “pushback” aiming to delegitimise same-sex marriage, Labor’s Mark Dreyfus has told the ABC’s Q&A program.

The US experienced a groundswell of opposition – including from Alabama state officials, churches and anti-gay rights groups – after the supreme court ruled that marriage equality was a constitutional right in mid-2015.

“What I’m worrying about … is pushback that we’ve seen that did occur in the United States, that did occur in the United Kingdom,” the shadow attorney general said on Q&A on Monday night. “We’re going to see a pushback here in Australia against the achievement of marriage equality.

“That’s the role for government, to make sure that that delegitimisation does not happen and to hang on to the achievement that we did make with marriage equality.”

The social services minister, Dan Tehan, said he had seen no such reaction in Australia. Marriage equality had been accepted,” he said. “Well, I’ve seen no sign of a kickback, in fact what I saw was acceptance and ability to move on.”

ABC Q&A (@QandA) .@RosieWaterland struggled to admit her own bisexuality. @MsGraceCollier is sorry about discrimination but it's not only in rural areas. @markdreyfusQCMP is worried about pushback #QandA pic.twitter.com/t3C4q960iB

The program heard examples of persisting homophobia in some rural communities across Australia. One man, originally from Hamilton in Victoria, said he had left the bush owing to homophobia, an experience he described as “pretty horrible” and one that took him years to get over.

He asked Tehan what he was doing to “challenge homophobia in [the electorate of] Wannon and in your own party”.

ABC Q&A (@QandA) What are you doing to challenge homophobia in regional areas & your own party? @DanTehanWannon & @JacquiLambie respond #QandA pic.twitter.com/LFaeua70Ul

“We know that farmers generally are under tremendous pressure leading to mental health issues,” the questioner said. “Some of my friends, their sexuality and their gender issues on top of that, can push them over the edge. Plenty of more conservative forces are still working to thwart equality in the bush.”



Tehan said he would “continue to engage” and work with groups who raised issues of homophobia in the bush. But he said he wasn’t aware of people leaving the regions to escape it.

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“I wouldn’t say I’m aware of people fleeing the bush because of it. But I’ve had groups come and see me to talk about this issue and to talk about the problems they’ve had.”

Tehan was then invited by the questioner to an upcoming pride match. He replied that he would need to check his diary but that if he was home he would look forward to it.

The former Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie said homophobia continued in some areas of her home state.



“Outside of Hobart, in the regional areas, it’s very conservative,” she said. “That’s just really unfortunate, they are getting better. You don’t see a lot of the gay community out there on show either, so that’s making it a little bit more difficult.”