I cannot believe what I have just seen on the internet. I cannot believe that this can really be true. My father just informed me that a big event had occurred in Australia today and that I would most certainly be inspired to write an article about it. I simply presumed that he was talking about gay couples finally being able to marry as this was recent news. Following a quick search on the internet, I stumbled across one of the most shocking pieces of news facing the LGBT community in the Western world!
‘Australia has banned Gay Marriage’
Australian Capital Territory has done what? This cannot be true…! To make this even worse those couples who have already married and had the most symbolic and loving day of their lives will now have their marriages annulled.
I cannot understand how a law so far down the line can be overturned. No one has been injured by gay marriage. No one has suffered as a result of gay marriage. No one has suddenly been given evidence to say that gay people are actually evil? Yet it is the gay community who are now the victims once again of a gross injustice, which I believe is criminal.
We heard only this week that on 29th March 2014 we will be able to finally marry equally in the United Kingdom. I discussed with my fiancé the importance of perhaps bringing our wedding date forward to be a part of this momentous day. It is with a heavy heart that I am now questioning this personal decision. What if we did marry and then a few weeks later discovered that it meant absolutely nothing? How would we feel walking down the aisle with the potential that it may be annulled? We are not performing monkeys living in a fictional world of fake love. Our love is real. Our love is forever. I wish to marry with the knowledge that it will not be removed at the whim of an ignorant government.
How will this affect those countries that have legalised equal marriage? Will they also now try to remove these laws? Will those who fought against it use the opportunity to revisit their laws? Will it allow those bigots their twisted injustice once again?
I write this with tears in my eyes and fight in my blood. We were moving forward and now we are returning to a time of insecurity and mistrust. The fear that some people still face regarding gay marriage is a fear that is filled with bitterness and misplaced anger. Let us remove their securely placed marriages. Let us tell them that their love now means nothing. Let them feel the destruction of their marriage destruction.
Finally I wish to send my love and deep sympathy to those previously happy couples who married with joyous certainty.
At the same time let us hope that there is no finality in this news and that enough people will fight to reverse this horrendous decision.
Juliette Prais