Posted by John, July 20th, 2010 - under Julia Gillard, Same-sex marriage.

Tags: Homophobia

Australia has its first female prime minister – and she is an unmarried atheist. Unfortunately, this makes absolutely no difference to the government’s position on same-sex marriage: “Marriage is between a man and a woman”, Gillard announced on Sydney radio shortly after her ascension to power.

When Labor took over the government three years ago, it was often argued that it maintained the ban on same-sex marriage because of Rudd’s conservative Christian beliefs. That argument no longer has currency. Gillard is proof that unmarried female atheists can impose anti-gay policy just as well as backward old white male Christian bigots.

Gillard is just like Rudd on this question because the Labor party simply has no spine when it comes to dealing with the right-wingers in society. Being in the Labor Party today means fawning over the rich and powerful and capitulating on every issue of principle.

Gillard could have come out straight away and galvanised the majority of the population who oppose the ban on same-sex marriage. The bigoted minority could have been marginalised. Instead she chose to placate them in the same way she set out to placate the racists over refugees and the mining company bosses over higher taxes.

The scale of the government’s spinelessness is brought into full view by the situation in deeply Catholic Portugal, which became the most recent country to legalise same-sex marriage on June 5. If it can be done there, in the face of media sensationalism and rallies of thousands of bigots in opposition, then it can be done here.

Australia is far less conservative and the Christian right has far less influence in society. But instead of taking a principled stand for what is right, Labor simply caves in to a minority of bigots in order to minimise any negative publicity for the government in the Murdoch press.

Socialist Alternative has long argued that the continuation of the ban on same-sex marriage has little to do with religion, or the individual conservatism of our elected Labor leaders. We were right. It is about politicians who are determined not to rock the boat – who are more concerned for their careers than for anything else.

So the campaign for same-sex marriage was never going to be victorious simply through the election of a new party leader, atheist or otherwise.

Real change comes through campaigning. So the next National Day of Action for same-sex marriage rights on August 14 is just as important as every other action that has been staged. With an election now looming, this will be a great opportunity to show Gillard and the government that discrimination will continue to be met with protest.

This article first appeared in Socialist Alternative.