We’ve seen this story before, the old “Won’t somebody think of the children?!” anti-LGBT panic trotted out, replete with lies, in order to try and stop marriage equality in its tracks.
It didn’t work in America, and it won’t work in Australia, if for no other reason than it’s a stupid argument designed to primarily preach to the choir.
A new ad out in Australia from the ironically named Coalition for Marriage, ahead of the country’s postal survey asking if same-sex marriage should be legalized, is causing both outrage and confusion for its odd message.
In a nutshell it is trying to argue that if you let the gays marry, it will cause children to want to be gay themselves, and to possibly even display signs of gender fluidity. Gasp!
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In fact, the majority of the ad deals with trans issues, as if there is no difference between being trans and being gay. Anti marriage equality groups have even been telling their supporters to speak out against “transgender marriage,” which is not what is up for debate here.
If the argument behind the ad weren’t bad enough, it turns out one of the parents repeated an outrageous lie that has been publicly refuted.
Cella White can be seen in the ad saying her son’s school told him “he could wear a dress next year if he felt like it.” White has made this claim before, and the school’s principal, John Albiston, checked with all of the teachers and reported that it never happened.
Polls have showed that the vast majority of Australians are in favor of marriage equality, and the “Vote No” side is going to have to come with something better and more coherent than this mess.
Naturally, no one becomes gay because we extend rights to the gay community any more than gay people become straight because even with marriage equality straight people have more rights. It is simply not a choice, and neither is being gender fluid or transgender.
Advocates warned that holding a postal survey before parliament decides to act on marriage equality was unnecessary and would result in anti-gay rhetoric hitting the streets and airwaves.
Neo-Nazi linked anti-gay marriage posters have been spotted in Australia, as have ones tying gay people to pedophilia, with the message, “Stop the Fags.”