As we remember the postal voting debacle of last year and look at what the government could have done but did not and what they did do and should not have, I look back to the months leading up to the final voting deadline.
At the time I owned a well known branded sandwich shop located in a food-court in the SE suburbs of Melbourne. For weeks leading up to the enrolment deadline I encouraged people to check the electoral roll, I had flyers from AEC and "We are all Equal" badges from the Victorian Equal Opportunities Commission to give away. My shop got through almost 1,000 badges during the lead-up.
We also displayed Equality messages on our electronic display units. On the whole, feedback was very positive, the only negative comments were that we could not keep up with demand for the badges, but people came back once we had more stock.
Riding on the back of the good will generated, I created a message on the receipt encouraging people to vote "YES". After posting on Facebook, it was seen by Mashable.com and became a major news story on a worldwide basis.
Then the hate started.
First the phone would not stop ringing from a right wing organized blitz. This traumatized the staff. Then the emails started, not to me but head office. They were nasty people screaming that “the brand” is going to suffer because there will be a boycott on a massive scale. “How dare “the brand” ram their views down my throat” said many. Believe me when I say it became ugly, it’s an understatement. But my views had nothing to do with the brand, this was my lone crusade, I just believe in equality.
The brand needed to protect itself, while publicly stating that each store is a franchise and the owners view was their own view; I knew that damage was being done, not just to the brand, but also to my staff and to my mental and physical health.
It was the first time that I’d ever experienced such vitriolic and irrational hatred. The closer to the vote date, the worse it became.
Then it all stopped. The government announced a resounding victory for the “YES” vote. Same Sex Marriage would become law.
That was a years ago, since then, 5365 same sex-couples have married in Australia (correct as of 15/11/2018). That’s 10,730 people directly affected by the change in the law, this does not include their family and friends, nor does it include those who married overseas and now have their marriage recognised in Australia. I’ve had the privilege of conducting some of those weddings and I hope to do a lot more.
Was it worth the pain? Hard to say as scars take a while to heal. But would I do it all over again if I were transported back in time, Oh Yeah, if not for me, then for the tens of thousands who will benefit from our struggle.
My name is Steve King and I’m an Equality Marriage Celebrant.