The marriage equality battle seems all but won, but the fight for equality in many other areas goes on, writes John Passant.
The fight is not yet over. The reactionaries’ fall-back position in the face of an overwhelming rejection of their case has been threatening to introduce a number of amendments to the less than perfect Dean Smith bill, which undermine the “Yes” vote. Again, freedom, and parental rights and other furphies are at the forefront of their arguments. Religions are already exempt from many of the anti-discrimination provisions in various Federal, state and territory human rights legislation.
Now that Senator James Paterson has withdrawn his Australian Christian Lobby drafted bill, Cory Bernardi will take up the fight on the floor of the Senate with amendments that mirror the ACL Bill. He has already introduced motions on abortion and White Ribbon among other things that have split the Liberals, including seeing Michaelia Cash, the Minister for Women, voting for the motion condemning White Ribbon for providing funding for late-term abortions (to rape victims among others.)
The dark side of the machinations of the “No” campaign is captured in an interview with Kevin Andrews on Sky News. In response to a question from David Speers, he said that Jewish bakers could deny cakes to Muslims and, he added, vice versa.
Read the article in Independent Australia.