For the past 24 hours or more, my friend Denis off The Nature of Robertson has been thinking about, preparing, writing a blog post.relating to child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church and the increasing crescendo of calls for a Royal Commission. Denis has not sullied the beautiful blog that is The Nature... but posted on his blog of political matters, The Body Politic.
I support what Denis has to say as I am sure many Networkers will. I, like Denis, cannot deny my Catholic upbringing and would fit into the definition in vogue these days of "a cultural Catholic". I am still - and have been all my life - a committed Christian. I am, these days, an Anglican and a Quaker. Anglicans have had their moments in the ugly spotlight ... but, it seems to me, they don't hold a candle or a scandal to Catholicism around the world. Quakers themselves have had an occasional cause for concern but the Quaker demographic is a very small blip on the Christian whole.
I am particularly concerned about how lay non-institutional Catholics in the pews are re-acting to what pours out in the Australian media. Are the pews emptying? Are parishes rallying behind the abused and their families? Are they still supporting their clergy? Are they happy for all this to be hushed up and kept out of the media?
Pope Benedict is reported as saying that the Irish sex abuse is a mystery to him. One reason with two subheadings, Your Popefulness! Power - powerfulness and powerlessness. I have not heard mention (although I don't delve too deep in the literature) of the role that the power of the Catholic Church, as an institution, has played in the abuse. The powerlessness of the victims is there for all to see and hear. My view is that the abusers could do what they did because they knew that, if caught, the Catholic Church would do everything to protect itself and hush matters up. Which is exactly what happened with priests shifted from parish to parish to exploit fresh cohorts of powerless children.
The Vatican was fearful (and I suspect still is) of the fall-out of sexual abuse in the USA and Ireland. Mass attendance dropped and so did giving. In particular, the fall in giving in the wealthy USA was of grave concern. If money and attendance drops, it impacts Vatican power. Do Australians boycott the institution in terms of money and attendance?
I ask again what are Australian Catholics doing? The evidence is there for all to see. The response in America and Ireland was visible and much discussed. How visible is the adverse reaction of Australian Catholics? Are there fewer people at mass on Sundays because of the sex abuse scandals? Have Australians withdrawn their financial support from their parishes? I would like to hear this discussed.
And if investigation shows no marked decline in mass attendance and giving, then Australian Catholics should be asked why they continue support in their parishes for the institutional Catholic Church? If the Irish and Americans have made their views known through visible impact on the pillars of Vatican power, why have Australian not done so as well?
This has been sent to me by the incomparable and outrageous Tess Lawrence [originally published on Independent Australia]:
HERE COMES THE BRIDE AND BRIDE, HERE COMES THE GROOM AND GROOM
Why are we threatened by same sex marriage?
I just can’t get over the histrionics of the political hermaphrodite that laughingly passes for our Parliament. And not just that nonsense with the Bob Kattery hunting and fisting party and those horny bull males.
Don’t tell me that Pierre Slipper isn’t unleashing his inner Priscilla when he lovingly adorns himself in formal regalia and slides into the Speaker’s High Chair, looking at Tony Abbott in that louche way.
How come we are more content to remain silent and complicit as we observe the daily ritual killings in the likes of Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq and yet squeal and reel in horreur at the thought of our brothers and sisters marrying whom they wish?
You have to wonder about the collective intellectual muscle of our politicians. Why the squeezing of the philosophical sphincter? Why do you have to have a conscience vote on this? Shouldn’t EVERY vote in Parliament be a conscience vote? There’s a fraction too much faction.
Those of us brought up Catholics probably find same sex marriages easier to accept. After all, Nuns are Brides of Christ. Crikey, I used to think, Jesus must be a polygamist or a Mormon or a Muslim. So many Brides for one groom. But hey, Jesus is the Son of God, so I guess stamina goes with the territory.
It always seemed a long and lonely engagement for a novitiate, but then, no need for earthly speed dating when eternity is on the bridal registry. Plenary indulgences — gold credit cards of another kind. Buy into it now, no interest to pay forever or Hell to pay.
And what about those vows. Poverty, Chastity, Obedience. Abstinence makes the heart grow fonder. And you don’t have to have child bearing lips. From here to paternity.
The fact that this invisible husband was never home, was a bit of a hermit and lived alone in the dark in a tabernacle, might be a plus for some, I suppose.
But then, every Mass, Nuns ingest their groom. Like we did. Like Black Widow spiders do.
Really. At least once a day they would swallow Jesus, mind you, being careful not to let Jesus touch the molars. That would be disrespectful. No flossing Jesus out of cavities, thank you very muchly.
It’s the miracle of the Sacrament. During the Mass, the Host (the wafer) is turned into the actual body and blood of Christ. All those bodily fluids. It’s not a metaphor. Not if you’re a believer.
So what do you do if you’re a vegan and not a carnivore? Father FitzPatrick was singularly unimpressed when I asked him this in Confession. Gave me a yard of Hail Marys to say.
These were all issues that tormented me in my early days, as I contemplated the Nunnery and unsuccessfully tried to levitate, a religious form of planking. But I was put off the cloisters when Sister ‘Bernadette’ gave me a clip around the ear just because I asked her if Jesus weed and went to the toilet, code for Number Two.
I was confused at how Jesus had all these brides for him, and yet priests couldn’t have any brides themselves, at least, not on the (holy) books.
And that some Popes had hundreds of little tackers running rampant around the Vatican.
Imagine what a surprise I had when I found out that priests used to be allowed to marry! Rome slapped a ban on marriage just to protect property and possessions going to heirs.
It’s like the notion of the Virgin Birth; probably the most famous IVF birth in history. Albeit artificial insemination from a God.
Ah, how like other great myths and legends is this story. How like stories from the pantheons of Greek and Roman, Indian, Asian, Middle Eastern and Aboriginal, Celtic, Saxon and Nordic songlines.
Whether or not you believe or even care if Mary’s was an Immaculate Conception, it still reeks to me of misogyny, and I don’t like to think of any god in that way — especially if she’s a She.
People go on about how marriage has been an institution for thousands of years. Not so.
The institutionalising of marriage and, in western culture, excising it from religion to the State, is fairly recent, is it not?
I reckon some of my gay friends are closet heterosexuals. I’ve urged them to go into the closet and to be unashamed of their sexuality. Be loud and proud. Like Bob Katter. Or Bill Heffernan and Craig Thomson. Or Wayne Swan, the mouse that bored. Or Amanda Vanstone. I’ve got a girlie crush on her, for sure. She’s the Sophie Tucker of Australian politics.
Let’s get down to the nitty titty on same sex marriages.
Be honest. I reckon it’s not the ‘marriage’ part that puts the wind up unconscientious objectors — but the ‘sex’ part.
It’s not the elephant in the room that’s the problem, it’s the elephant’s trunk.
It really makes me larf when you hear people go on about ‘abhorrent’ sexual practices of homosexual men.
Excuse me? Anal sex is not the presphincter of gay men alone. As if anal sex isn’t performed amongst heterosexual couples, bisexuals and transsexuals!
As if shoving things up one another’s orifices is not practised by heteros. Ditto sucking, licking and all the other ‘ings’.
Now I just don’t want to even think of Bob Katter doing IT. But I think it’s highly unlikely that an adult male gets to his stage in life without having experienced all of this. Especially someone like him, who is always sticking his big nose into someone’s else’s sexual business.
Surely, when we strip away all the blarney, this is about the equal right to love and marriage. Even if it no longer goes together like a whore’s and carriage. We should acknowledge the reality that not everyone marries for love alone.
Gay marriage is about access to justice and the right to equal protection under the State’s civil laws.
Marriage is not for everyone. Millions of Australians can attest to this. To each their own. But to exclude people from participating in this legal custom, on the sole basis of their adult sexual preferences, is facile and an inept legal argument.
Love has many dialects. No one dialect is greater than another. Love is like an emotional ringbarking of our hearts. Of our lives. It is a privilege to love. An even greater privilege, surely, to be loved.
It is a nonsense to suppose that the ideal marriage is restricted to a union of a man and a woman and our media headlines and Family Courts attest to this, as our coverage of the tragic story of little Darcey Freeman shows.
Regardless of the gender combination, a marriage certificate is no guarantee for anything and is certainly no proof of love or parental suitability. But it signals an intent and the State acknowledges that. Therefore, all its citizens should stand equally before the State, in the first instance.
Why should people of same sex unions be designated to a lower legal and societal caste of Australian?
The hypocrisy of religious and political figures on this subject is breathtaking, given that neither have their Houses in order.
To hear pontifications upon selective religious tracts and laws is an insult to our tolerance level and intelligence.
To think that this dysfunctional Government and politically anal retentive Opposition will no doubt vote against gay marriage, in a rare show of unanimity, is nothing more than political expediency.
Love, and its siblings – such as compassion, equal rights and a shared humanity – will be enslaved to the politics of Hate, that traffics in fear and the demonising of ‘the other’.
We are all ‘the other’ in one way or another. If we do not speak up for others, then we do not speak up for ourselves and, so, who will be left to speak for us? Not our politicians.
Let us err on the side of Love and the human family in all its imperfection and diversity.
And let us not succumb to those who love to hate and hate to love.
Solidarity
candelight vigil for hunger strikers at Broadmeadows.See display advertisement above.
7-10pm. Melbourne Immigration Transit Accomodation, 120-150 Camp Road,
Broadmeadows (behind Maygar army Barracks). Bring a candle. Organised by
Refugee Action Collective. For more info ph Daniella Olea 0404 189 272 or Sue Bolton
0413 377 978.
Friday,
January 20
Rally:Honour freedom
fighters Tunnerminnerwait & Maulboyheener.Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyheenner
were among five Tasmanian Aborigines who conducted a campaign of resistance to
European settlement in 1841 around Western Port and South Gippsland near
Melbourne. After three military expeditions they were finally captured and
brought back to Melbourne for trial. They were not allowed to give evidence
themselves. The two men were found guilty of murder, with the jury saying due
to the circumstances mercy should be granted. No mercy was given and
Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyheenner were the first judicial executions to take
place in Melbourne on January 20, 1842 before a crowd of 5000, a quarter of the
population of Melbourne at the time. 12 noon. RMIT entrance, cnr Bowen &
Franklin Sts, City.
Rally:Occupy Melbourne:
Occupy Fridays!Contributors
to Occupy Melbourne have organised a recurring occupation of City Square held
every Friday. Occupy Fridays is our chance to reclaim our voice and our square!
Organised events include Q & A sessions, debates, guest speakers, spoken
word, bands/music, skills training sessions, discussion groups and Working
Group meetings! The aim of this is to get people involved in their community, meet
like-minded people, learn some new skills and feel empowered to take action for
a better world today! 10am-10pm. City Square, cnr Collins & Swanston Sts,
City. For more info visit Occupy Melbourne.
Saturday,
January 21
Public
meeting:The
war on the internet.The
response of governments and corporations to Wikileaks, Anonymous, the Occupy
movement and the Arab Spring has been defensive and warlike. The internet and
social media were declared tools of agitation. Behaviour that sought peaceful
democratic reform was characterised as treasonous or even terrorist.Speakers:Jacob Applebaum (core member of the
Tor project for online anonymity, based at the University of Washington, he has
been repeatedly targeted by US law enforcement); Bernard Keane (Crikeyjournalist, author ofWar on the Internet);
Scott Ludlam ( Australian Greens senator); Suelette Dreyfus (author &
researcher on whistleblowing). A message from Julian Assange will kick off the
event. Entry free. 3pm. New Council Chambers, Trades Hall, cnr Victoria &
Lygon Sts, Carlton South. Organised by Electronic Frontiers Australia & the
Greens.
Public
meeting:Global
day of solidarity with the ongoing Egyptian revolution.Speakers:Alaa Abdul-Fattah (activist), Said
Sadek (academic), Fatima Naout (writer), Nawwara Negm (writer). 6:30pm.
Brunswick Town Hall, 233 Sydney Rd, Brunswick. For more info ph Hani 0421 370
501 or Reham 0425 743 375.
Saturday,
January 21-Sunday January 22
Festival:Wominjeka Festival.Footscray Community Arts Centre and
Maribyrnong City Council present a celebration of Koorie culture featuring: The
Black Arm Band Company performing Murundak. Wominjeka means welcome in the
language of the Kulin Nation and you are invited to welcome in 2012 with this
free celebration of Koorie culture. Entry free. 6-10pm Saturday; 11am–4.30pm
Sunday. River Lawn, Footscray Community Arts Centre, 45 Moreland St, Footscray.
Thursday,
January 26
CanberraRally:Stand up & be
counted on Sovereignty Day.Invitation
to the 40th anniversary of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy. For more info visitSovereignty Day.
Festival:Share the Spirit
Festival 2012. Celebrating Survival Day.Indigenous
music, dance and culture as part of Melbourne’s official Survival Day
celebrations. 1-7pm. Treasury Gardens.
Festival:2012 Belgrave
Survival Day.This
event acknowledges the indigenous perspective on the 230 years of European
occupation of Australia, and celebrates the survival of the oldest living
culture on the globe through live music, storytelling, traditional dance and
craft. Speakers will include in Elder Aunty Dot Peters from Healesville, Gary
Presland and Rodney Augustine from the Save the Kimberley campaign. Featuring
Yung Warriors and Lou Bennett; traditional stories by Gnarnayarrahe Waitairie
and the Jindi Worobak Dance Troupe; Wurundjeri elders will be undertaking a
smoking ceremony. 12 noon-4pm. Borthwick Park (next to the Belgrave Pool),
Benson St, Belgrave.
Friday,
January 27
Rally:Occupy Melbourne:
Occupy Fridays!See
January 20 entry. 10am-10pm. City Square, cnr Collins & Swanston Sts, City.
For more info visitOccupy Melbourne.
Saturday,
January 28
Public
meeting:Melbourne
Sexuality, Sex & Gender Collective campaign launch.MSSGC is a campaign collective
which has specifically been set up as a broad, inclusive group with the goal of
campaigning around issues that will target homophobia, transphobia & sexism
among young people. 3pm. Resistance Centre, level 5, 407 Swanston St, City
(opposite RMIT). For more info ph 9639 8622 or 0432 719 335.
Film
screening:Backroads.Phillip Noyce's legendary first
featurette, a gritty hybrid of B-noir, 1970s road movie and black-white race
relations allegory, stars Bill Hunter and Aboriginal actor/activist Gary Foley
as a pair of petty criminals on the run in a big yellow Pontiac along the dusty
roads of western NSW. Presented in collaboration with the National Film and
Sound Archive of Australia. 4pm. ACMI Cinemas, Federation Square, City. $8
(ACMI members $6).
Thursday,
February 2
Public
meeting:After
'Homosexual'. The legacies of gay liberation.Speakers:Dennis Altman; Alice Echols;
Jeffrey Weeks; hosted by Helen Razer. 6pm. ACMI, Federation Square, City.
Presented by La Trobe University & the Australian Lesbian & Gay
Archives. $17/14. For more info visitMidsumma.
Friday,
February 3
Rally:Occupy Melbourne:
Occupy Fridays!See
January 20 entry. 10am-10pm. City Square, cnr Collins & Swanston Sts, City.
For more info visitOccupy Melbourne.
Booklaunch:Life Without Money.
Building Fair and Sustainable Economies.This
book engages with today's big economic, environmental, democratic and social
challenges; edited by Anitra Nelson & Frans Timmerman.Speaker:Jeff Sparrow (editorOverland).
Entry free. 6:30pm. Readings Bookshop, 309 Lygon St, Carlton.
Saturday,
February 4
Booklaunch:Life Without Money.
Building Fair and Sustainable Economies.Speakers:Moss Cass, (former Whitlam
government minister) & Julia Dehm (Occupy Melbourne activist) in
conversation with Anitra Nelson and Frans Timmerman (co-editors ofLife Without Money).
3pm. New International Book Shop, Trades Hall, Carlton South.
Sunday,
February 5
Rally:Pride march.Gather from 12 noon for march at
2pm Sharp. Cnr Lakeside Dr & Fitzroy St, St Kilda. For more info visitPride march.
Tuesday,
February 7
Film
screening:The
end of the line.Where
have all the fish gone? The first major feature documentary film revealing the
impact of overfishing on our oceans; we see firsthand the effects of our global
love affair with fish as food. Talk with Sea Shepherd after the film. 7pm.
Level 4, Ross House, 247 Flinders Lane, City. Entry by donation. The Big
Picture at Ross House is a monthly film series showing films for the
environment and social justice. This month we're supporting Sea Shepherd.
Friday,
February 10
Rally:Israeli Apartheid
Inc. Corporate criminals BDS tour.As
part of the global Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions campaign, Students for
Palestine is taking on corporations in Melbourne's CBD that support the theft
of Palestinian land and the brutality of the Israeli military. 6pm. Bourke St,
Mall. For more info visitStudents
for Palestineor
ph 0410 513 302.
Rally:Occupy Melbourne:
Occupy Fridays!See
January 20 entry. 10am-10pm. City Square, cnr Collins & Swanston Sts, City.
For more info visitOccupy Melbourne.
Saturday,
February 11
Rally:Stop Aboriginal
deaths in custody.Death
in custody of Terrance Briscoe, Alice Springs (January 5, 2012); 4th
anniversary of the death of Mr Ward (January 27); 5th anniversary of Queensland
Police officer, Chris Hurley, being forced to front the Supreme Court charged
with manslaughter and assault (February 5); 8th anniversary of the death of TJ
Hickey (February 14). Stop Aboriginal deaths in custody: implement all 339
recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. End
privatisation of custodial services: cancel all contracts with G4S, SERCO and
other profiteers from incarceration. 11am. Old GPO, cnr Bourke & Elizabeth
Sts, City. Organised by Indigenous Social Justice Association. For more info ph
9388 0062.
Public
meeting:Melbourne
Climate Action Groups Meeting 2012.(Note
change of date). 9am-5pm. South Melbourne Commons. Entry by donation. For more
info emailBrett.
Indigenous
rights film festival.Featuring:The Coolbaroo Club(about racial apartheid in Perth in
the late 1940s and fifties);The
Tall Man(deals
with the killing of Cameron Doomadgee on Palm Island in 2004);Ningla A-Na[Hungry for our land] (documentary
about the establishment of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra in 1972).
Starts 3pm. Further details TBA. Resistance Centre, level 5, 407 Swanston St,
City (opposite RMIT). Organised byGreen
Left Weekly&
Socialist Alliance. For more info ph 9639 8622.
Friday,
February 17
Film
screening:Our
Generation.Outdoor
screening of documentary made by Sinem Saban & Damien Curtis about the NT
Intervention; and a short film about the Kimberley campaign opposing the
proposed gas hub at James Price Point. The screening will be preceded by live
music and speakers including Greens Senator Richard di Natale. The focus is on
making connections between the issues affecting indigenous communities in
northern Australia, and involving us all in finding solutions. Doors open 6pm,
speakers 7pm, and live music until dark, feature starts at 9pm. $20/$16.
BookingsCERES. CERES Village
Green, cnr Roberts & Stewart Sts, Brunswick East. For more info ph 9389
0100.
Friday,
February 17-Sunday, February 19
Festival:Sustainable Living
Festival 2012.Federation
Square & Birrarung Marr Event Park, near cnr Swanston & Flinders Sts,
City. For more info visitSLF.
Sunday,
February 19
The
'Please resist me' poetry slam tour Melbourne launch.Hosted by esteemed poet and rapper
Omar Musa (Moneykat). 6:30pm. Performance Revolt, 12 Elizabeth St, Kensington.
$18/$15. Organised by the Centre for Poetics and Justice. For more info visitCPJ.
Tuesday,
February 28
Rally:India's general
strike: Melbourne supports the world's largest ever strike.On February 28, over 100 million
Indians will join together and walk off the job in what is likely to be the
largest strike of workers the world has ever seen. The different labor unions
have specific demands that they want to achieve with the strike. These include
bringing contract workers up to the same level of employee protections as
permanent workers, extending the minimum wage to cover the entire population,
and countering the attacks on unions. Workers around the world will be standing
in solidarity with those fighting for economic justice in India. 5:30pm.
Federation Square, City. For more info visitWorkers' Solidarity Network.
Thursday,
March 8
Public
meeting:The
Occupy movement: An infantile disorder?Melbourne
University Graduate House, 220 Leicester St, Carlton. For more info visitThe Monthly Argument.
Sunday,
March 11
Rally:Commemoration of
Fukushima nuclear disaster.Part
of international day of action. 1pm. State Library, cnr Swanston & Latrobe
Sts, City. Organised by MAPW, ICAN, Japanese for Peace and others. For more
info visit11 March.
Friday,
April 6
CanberraRally:Easter convergence on
Darwin 2012. Free the refugees, end mandatory detention.Marks 10 years since the refugee
rights movement's first Easter convergence at Woomera 2002, when busloads of
protesters from across the country met magnificent protests by detainees, many
of whom leapt through the fence and literally into the arms of the movement.
Darwin is rapidly becoming Australia's detention capital. Chronic levels of
self-harm and protest have put the Northern Immigration Detention Centre (NIDC)
in a state of perpetual crisis. 341 continue to languish at NIDC, with scores
more at the Darwin Airport Lodge For more info visitRAC.
Campaign committees
Melbourne
Anti-Intervention Collective(MAIC)
meets meets on the first and third Monday of each month, 6.30pm on Level 4 of
the rear building at Trades Hall, Lygon & Victoria Sts Carlton. For info,
ph 0431 311 520 or visitMAI Collective.
Refugee
Action Collective (RAC).For
more info ph 0413 377 978 or visitRAC.
Stop
HRL: No New Coal Power For Victoria meetings.Join
the community campaign against HRL's proposed new coal-fired power station. For
more info visitStop HRLor
call 0402 337 077.
The phrase about being on the right side of history is often heard. In my view, it is a passive statement often said in the consolation of loss i.e. we might have lost this round but we know we are on the right side of history. Howsabout we turn this stuff on its head and make it a more active adage - we are working to place us on the best side of the future.
I am brought to this type of thinking by musing on Prime Minister Julia Gillard's authoritative stamp on a ministry reshuffle yesterday. Yes, I do mean to use the word authoritative in spite of what the media pundits may be saying.
There has been nothing but carping beyond measure since Julia Gillard the unmarried, living in sin, childless atheist inherited The Lodge in Canberra. Some of it is, it could be said, in the realm of the usual political argy-bargy...although even some of this is at the higher margins of extreme. Some of it borders on the dangerous. Where does violent language end and actual violence begin? I hope we, in Australia, never have to answer that question...although, come to think of it, we did have to after certain events at Cronulla, didn't we?
There seems to be little doubt that Julia Gillard is copping more than her fair share of slings and arrows whether fortune is outrageous or not. The language is fed by and is an appeal to an Ocker machismo. This is exhibited by men of the right, and, more correctly, the extreme right - and women (yes I do say women) who thoughtlessly follow behind - who don't like equity with women; who have grave difficulty when a woman is not only superior by position but by intellect, grace, and goodwill as well.
Reports are coming through from those who have had personal dealings or social engagements with the Australian Prime Minister. They report her as warm, gracious, witty, and a wonderful dinner companion. Those with whom she negotiated in the tense days immediately following the 2010 Federal election bring good reports and contrast the performance of Tony Abbott in negotiations in a way which reflects adversely on the Leader of the Opposition.
Abbott has been a cheerleader of negativity which has brought out the worst in so many Australians high, middle, and low. The Labor wits of the Twitterverse now refer to the Liberal/National Parties in the Federal Parliament as the No-alition.
Added to this are the arguments about marriage equality and that the definition of marriage is one between a man and a woman. The Prime Minister herself, some sections of the Labor Government, and the conservative political parties support this proposition and are loudly supported by the Catholic and Evangelical Christian churches.
We are living in a time, though, when old shibboleths are falling away. Societies across the planet are forming new moralities, new adherences, new ways of being community and culture. This is part of the nature of humanity. It is an ever evolving story - whether we like it or not. The Global Financial Crisis will be sand in the oyster of this process. Whether it will produce a decent pearl, we know not.
One of my strengths and, at the same time, one of my problems is that I am glass half-full girl. Ever the optimist. We have put men on the moon, therefore we can do just about anything. I think that both history and the future are looking good for equity amongst peoples. Certainly, not everyone in the world has joined the journey yet but this year has seen many advances which are as startling as cherry blossom in Japan.
So let's work together without animosity to be on the best side of the future. As a foundation stone for this work, let's get vocal and make it clear from communities across Australia that the sort of negative behaviour I have described is NOT acceptable.
Embedded in my memory is Queen Oberea surrounded by young bucks feeding her. Polyandry was the way in Otaheite. I have always said, jokingly, in these days of free sexual choice and talk of polygamy that I relish the idea of polyandry. Would Joel Barlow have qualified for one of Queen Oberea's young bucks? I don't know. Were there auditions?
Now not everything that goes in the Platform gets enshrined in legislation. It is, however, a first step on the way to legislation. Items in the Platform may languish. It is unlikely that this one will because of the support or neutrality Australians have given to the topic. While there is opposition to gay marriage in some quarters, there is insufficient opposition to impede this policy over the long term.
There are hurdles to cross. ALP members of Parliament will be given a conscience vote on the matter. When legislation comes before Parliament, those who can't agree with the legislation - usually, but not always, on religious grounds - will be free from adherence to a party line. There will be a conscience vote. A conscience vote is not unusual on matters of deep moral consequence.
It is not clear at this stage, whether the Liberal and National Parties, the main Opposition parties and the parties of conservatism in Australia, will allow their members a conscience vote. If the Opposition Parties do not allow a conscience vote, legislation for gay marriage will be defeated on the floor of the House of Representatives because it is believed that their party line will be against gay marriage. However, if the Liberal and National Parties do allow a conscience vote, it is not clear what numbers would come forward from those parties to support the legislation.
In the less than likely event of the legislation passing through the House of Representatives, the bill will almost certainly pass into law with the support of The Greens.
One thing is clear. The journey on the road to gay marriage in the Commonwealth of Australia has begun. Some of us will be receiving a higher than usual number of wedding invitations in the future and we are looking forward to the celebratory events.
Beth Wilson's article to-day is most welcome. Particularly, in a period when we have had the AFL p*nis pictures controversy and descriptions of the rising number of women seeking cosmetic surgery for their undercarriage.
What has always bugged me is that for decades, French movies have not been shy about showing the male in all his glory - and, of course, the female in his hers. Conversely, Hollywood has never been shy (well at least for about five decades) about exploiting the female form but baulks at showing the male in toto.
Size is clearly a male pre-occupation, comparison and embarrassment which has now corrupted the female of the species for whom this was never an issue except in rare anatomical circumstances. This is what we have liberated females for? To be seduced by male pornographic pleasures of airbrushed women juvenile-style which have given us nude genitalia and now 'enhanced' or 'deformed by bad surgery' genitalia. Great! Women can still be conned by men. Women can still not think for themselves?
And as for the the AFL footballers. They are a disgrace. I for one am not going to line up in the condemnatory queue against the 17 year old girl. The AFL footballers were well past the age of consent. The 17 year old was barely past the age of consent. In addition, the footballers have been the recipients of all sorts of courses and directives by the AFL for the purpose of trying to do the impossible, keep AFL footballers out of trouble, particularly of their own making.
The AFL footballers and their club are crying foul when the solutions are quite simple. To the clubs: Pick footballers who can think rationally as well as run and punt. To the footballers: Don't do anything that you wouldn't like to see publicised in a photograph.
And I am not convinced by their almost tearful performances. You see I think they are genuinely shocked by what has occurred. But the real worry is money - money for personal endorsements, money for the club. After all what does a footballer endorse after his p*nis has been publicised - p*nis enlargement?
Let's attribute blame fairly and squarely where it is due: men who cannot exercise any intellectual capacity above their navel. Simple as that. They ruin their own lives and the lives of women foolish enough to hang around them.
I support what Denis has to say as I am sure many Networkers will. I, like Denis, cannot deny my Catholic upbringing and would fit into the definition in vogue these days of "a cultural Catholic". I am still - and have been all my life - a committed Christian. I am, these days, an Anglican and a Quaker. Anglicans have had their moments in the ugly spotlight ... but, it seems to me, they don't hold a candle or a scandal to Catholicism around the world. Quakers themselves have had an occasional cause for concern but the Quaker demographic is a very small blip on the Christian whole. 
