John Oliver hilariously ridicules Australia’s non-binding same-sex marriage ballot
Comedian John Oliver has laid into Australia’s none legally binding same-sex marriage ballot.
The British comic took aim at the absurd anti-LGBT arguments put forward by the No campaign in the $122m postal survey.
That included a backbench Liberal MP Kevin Andrews, who compared marrying a man to marrying his cycling buddies.
We hope Kevin Andrews' cycling mates can teach him how to backpedal.#TheWeekly pic.twitter.com/J114IvbvMI— The Weekly (@theweeklytv) August 16, 2017
Poking fun at the absurd comparison, Oliver ridiculed: “Yeah, I mean, we do f**k,” he said, affecting a broad Australian accent.
“We finish cycling, we slowly peel our cycling clothes off by the side of the bucolic country road and we fuck, but that’s not marriage, that’s fucking your cycling mates… You cycle, you f**k.
“You cycle, you f**k. It’s not marriage though.”
He also laid into No campaigner Sophie York, who suggested the “marriage” in gay marriage be replaced with another word, like “garriage”.
“That is a stupid word,” Oliver said.
“Except in the very rare case of a marriage between two men and named Gary, in which case, obviously they should be getting ‘garried’.”
Polls show that two thirds of Australians are in favour of marriage equality.
Voting remains open until 7 November and results are expected by 15 November.
Millions of eligible Australians have not yet voted in the country’s ballot on same-sex marriage, however, despite a 75% turnout.
The informal postal ballot is entirely advisory and non-binding, but will inform MPs in the country when the issue goes to Parliament.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics, which is responsible for running the vote, confirmed the amount of votes cast so far.
“Today’s result shows that Australians clearly want this issue to be dealt with as quickly as possible,” The Equality Campaign director Tiernan Brady told Star Observer.
“We hope that a strong YES result will encourage Parliament to ensure marriage equality is a reality in Australia by Christmas.
“To be sure that their votes will be counted by the ABS, Australians should make sure they have posted their YES votes by this Friday 27 October.”
Protests in Australia (SAEED KHAN/AFP/Getty Images)
The Yes campaign looks set to win in Australia’s controversial same-sex marriage plebiscite.
The pro-equality campaign is in the lead lead among people who have already voted in the marriage law postal survey, leading 59% to 38%, according to the latest Newspoll.
However the gap between the two campaigns has narrowed in recent weeks, with previous polls putting yes on as much as 64%.
All public polls conducted since ballots were first issued have shown the yes campaign in the lead, with LGBT activists expected to be victorious when the ballots are counted.
But a victory in the national postal ballot might not mean any laws are changed in Australia, as the ballot is non-binding.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull supports same-sex marriage personally, while many in his right-wing government are opposed to the move.
