Love Made Equal

AUSTRALIA has spoken and the yes votes have it 61.6% to 38.4%.

scone.com.au spoke to Scott Cooper a born and bred resident, who as a gay man, has experienced many changes in the way gay and lesbian people are treated and he said he is pleased we have taken another step towards a true egalitarian society, which Australia prides itself on being.

“I honestly thought there was sufficient respect and education in the community that even if they had some kind of broader objection, reserve or concern that they saw it as a civil rights issue,” said Mr Cooper.

“I think the politicians were absolutely useless overall and I think their lack of leadership actually pushed people into standing up,” he said.

“From someone who was threatened in 1984 with grievous bodily harm and all the rest just for being gay…we have changed, not enough yet, but we have changed.

“It’s a really nice step and for once it is nice not to be a second class citizen.

“Effectively it means my life is guided by the same guidelines as everybody else, I’m able to take advantage of our anti-discrimination laws, I’m able to get married if I chose to, I’m no longer a hidden class of people…actually we weren’t too hidden because we are fairly loud and out there,” he laughed

“There are a lot of closeted people in town and there is no reason now legally we aren’t on par or won’t be, there is still a lot of community attitudes that do need to change but it does make a difference.

“I mean there was that case in Adelaide where a guy lost his partner but he wasn’t allowed in to see him, that should never have happened and the fact that we had a legal base for preventing that interaction is appalling and we are on a big step to removing that and putting everyone on an even footing.

“We say we are an egalitarian society, but in a lot of ways we’re still not.

“People who hadn’t talked about it too much before and thought they are the blokes living together down the road actually did have enough of a think about to say ‘well what’s the bloody issue?’ and that’s a long way for our society to have come.

“There was a lot of submarine hatred in the media ‘we’re not haters but we do’ and they lost, they haven’t gained anything and in some cases they have ended up doing themselves a major disservice.

“Bigotry is always a face that surprises you and I think this time the bigots have been surprised,” he said.

“Love may not always get it, but go the vote!” Scott Cooper said.