Damien Cave, our Australia bureau chief, shares insights on global news, local recommendations and feedback from readers in this weekly newsletter. To receive it in your inbox, sign up here.

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Walking through Melbourne this week, I saw rainbow flags in storefronts, restaurants and on the front of old brick churches — all in support of a “yes” vote in the postal plebiscite about same-sex marriage that went out this week.

We’ve covered this issue closely from the start. We’ve scrutinized the expensive, nonbinding process, deconstructed a popular TV ad from the “no” side and covered the court decision letting the vote proceed, and this week, we explored the experience of gay parents and the chasm between their routine daily lives and the intense political debate about their families.

What’s been quite striking in all of this is the degree to which the opponents of same-sex marriage have sought to shift the focus from marriage to kids and male and female identity.