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Tory MP Nadine Dorries: 'The gay marriage bill is taking the sex out of marriage'
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Government to consider abolishing civil partnerships or opening up to straight couples
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Philip Hammond: 'No great demand for gay marriage and it's upsetting vast numbers of people'
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Bret Easton Ellis slams GLAAD and says gay basketball player Jason Collins treated like a 'baby panda'
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US Radio host: Gay news websites are covered with porn that is turning teens gay
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Lib Dem MP Sarah Teather tells Catholic newspaper 'I never went into politics to tackle equal marriage'
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Tory MP David Burrowes: 'I'm not anti-gay; I'm just pro-marriage'
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Christians called to pray at Parliament in opposition to equal marriage bill
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Russia: Tortured and killed gay man was 'raped with beer bottles'
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Tory MP David Burrowes: I only want a referendum on same-sex marriage so I can defeat the government's bill
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Robert in S. Kensington 792
Eddy 330
bobbleobble 283
Jock S. Trap 260
D.McCabe 239
Ray123 192
rapture 188
SteveC 173
Rehan 171
Valksy 162
That’s good news for homosexual/bisexual Australians! I only see the number getting higher over the years, until it’s at a large majority, much like interracial marriage.
I’d like to see a poll done from the countries that have same-sex marriage now, and also Austria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Israel, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Paraguay, Switzerland, Uruguay, the UK countries separately, and I have to throw Japan in there since I’d like to live there someday. I think it would be interesting to do one poll with everyone, one poll each with monotheistic religious people, one poll each with polytheistic/other religious people, and one poll with non-religious people to see what the difference is (in major countries).
Problem here in Australia is that, unlike the uk, there are no major political parties backing equal marriage. The Labour party is heavily infiltrated by catholic social conservatives and the coalition previous introduced legislation banning gay marriage federally.
-Freedom of religion-
Australia does not have an official or state religion. The law does not enforce any religious doctrine, however, religious practices must conform to the law. We are free to follow any religion we choose. We are also free not to have a religion.
*cough cough*
What I’m so sick of hearing is the comment that marriage isn’t a priorty when there so many other thing the government should be doing!!
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I guess it never is a priorty if you already have the choice and are not treated like second class citizens.
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If government wants a stable society then marriage will help ensure it.
A depressing statistic for the UK. I suppose when you spend time on the Internet you are more likely to encounter a younger crowd more used to people different than themselves, which is reflected in Internet polls. Still, I suspect those that have decided equality isn’t for the likes of us won’t be around forever. We’ll get there. We just need to keep getting our message across.
Yes David it is low, but I would make two comments on this i) we can take warmth from the growth of support in the figures in Canada (who had similar figures before equal marriage was introduced) and ii) human rights for minorities should not be decided by opinion polls or referenda – they are the duty of democratic government to respect and ensure.
We get governments with less support, The Tories (or anyone else) would love to get 43% of the vote.
“human rights for minorities should not be decided by opinion polls or referenda – they are the duty of democratic government to respect and ensure.”
Oh this. This so much. I am sick and tired of people giving their opinion on whether I should have my rights or not.
David, you must remember Australia has no form of civil union yet. A lot of people in the UK don’t explicitly support equal marriage because they feel our CPs already offer the same benefits.
I see figures like this and I think to myself that perhaps I’m being too harsh on religious people. The US is supposed to be a very religious country compared to fiercely secular Britain yet the figures show that Britain is only slightly less ignorant when it comes to homosexuality and gay rights.
You really can’t read too much into these polls. Polls done in America by American pollsters reveal support to be 51%, so you can’t go by any single poll and construe it as final. If you recall, Peter Tatchell reported that a poll conducted in the UK revealed 61% supported it. Which is it then?
This is sloppy reporting !
What were the ‘Against’ and ‘Don’t Know / Won’t Say’ figures for the “Same-sex couples should be allowed to legally marry” question?
Without the full picture no realistic comparisons can be made.
I’m also puzzled about the significance of the second question.
If same-sex couples are allowed to marry legally, doesn’t that then imply that the definition is that any two people can marry?
This poll is confusing. I thought that support for marriage equality was around 60% in both Australia and the UK and at 53% in the US according to a Gallup Poll of May 2011. So these numbers are rather disappointing.
Peter, I wouldn’t put much faith in any of these polls. By the time a bill is drafted and debated in Parliament, more of the public will probably evolve and support it, including MPs and those in the House of Lords. The public hasn’t yet had enough time to hear our stories, experiences and why we need civil marriage equality. It’s surprising that once they see the human face of inequality , they often change for the better. We need videos depicting gay couples and in some cases their families telling the public why this is important. Discriminating against gay couples with children in particular is nothing more than anti-family and it is the children who also suffer from the discrimination. It is clear the major religious denominations are anti-family after hearing their hateful, disparaging rhetoric over the past couple of weeks. We need to counter that with our own, far more powerful stories to demonstrate just how out of touch they are and why marriage matters.
Ahem. At least New Zealand’s Labour and Green Opposition are prepared to legislate for it when they next form the government- unlike the wretched ALP. And we have majority public support for SSM in our polls too. And no direct statutory barriers, just a lazy centre-right government.
What is the methodology for this? O am sad they do not repeat the 2006 Eurobarometer, which is arguably the best poll… (in the EU at least).
http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/44437/australians-support-same-sex-marriage-more-than-americans-and-britons/
If you want to see an example of biased reporting, look on the Christian Institute webpage. Reporting on the Sunday Telegraph opinion poll it manages not to mention the public were in favour of gay marriage by 45% to 36%!
Polls are polls.
Facts are facts.
Given the polls bandied at us via the UK press and the Churches I would pay none of them any heed.
Marriage equality, regardless of age in some countries men and women!this is a very interesting article! Thanks! Maybe you’re interested in Nike Free Danmark
Shame on Britain and the US! Double shame on Australia!!
Run along, you silly little creature.
Polls, schmolls!
My partner and I are currently living in Sydney, Australia and we have no more rights than any couple who have lived together for 12 months or more. We have been civil partnered since 2008. When we return to the UK this year then we will have our civil partnership rights recognised once more and we can both legally use the title of Mrs.
Equal marriage rights will be introduced in the UK by 2015, the same cannot be promised in Australia.
We reside in a suburb of central Sydney and have received homophobic abuse. I have not received homophobic abuse in the UK in the last 10 years.
I think Australia has a long road to travel before we can be take any notice of what the polls say.