PaulS Posted November 15, 2017 Posted November 15, 2017 We have been undergoing a postal plebiscite here in Australia for the past 6 or so weeks, concerning gay marriage. Australians were asked to vote either Yes or No to the question - "Should the law be changed to allow same sex couples to marry?" I'm proud to say that Australians overwhelming voted in favour of accepting gay marriage - 62% voted yes and only 38% votes against. Voting was optional but 80% of eligible voters took the opportunity to have their say. Every State & Territory across Australia recorded a majority 'yes' vote above 60%. The last hurdle is for legislation to now be passed which supports the changes, but our prime Minister says that will be in place by Christmas. Quote
JosephM Posted November 15, 2017 Posted November 15, 2017 Austrailia has just re-defined the word marriage however the US led the way first however not with the people s vote but rather the supreme court decision . Quote
PaulS Posted November 15, 2017 Author Posted November 15, 2017 8 minutes ago, JosephM said: Austrailia has just re-defined the word marriage however the US led the way first however not with the people s vote but rather the supreme court decision . When you say 'led the way' I guess you mean that the US was ahead of Australia in legalising gay marriage, because you do realise the US was as late as the 17th country in the world to legalise same sex marriage, some 15 or more years after other countries 'led the way'? Embarrassingly, it took Australia 2 more years than the US to get its stuff organised, but I'm so proud we got there and with inarguable support from the majority of the population. Quote
romansh Posted November 17, 2017 Posted November 17, 2017 This was a non binding referendum ... if I am correct? Still a couple of hurdles to then. Quote
PaulS Posted November 17, 2017 Author Posted November 17, 2017 Yes, non-binding but the Prime Minister has said legislation will be passed by Christmas, Plus the Opposition have said they would legalise SSM if they were to be elected next year. So technically not enacted yet but I'm confident it will be this year - the people have spoken. Quote
PaulB Posted November 23, 2017 Posted November 23, 2017 Yes PaulS it's great to see that we finally got there even the former PM has conceded it is going to happen and it was some what ironic that his electret had one of the highest yes votes haha. Quote
Burl Posted November 23, 2017 Posted November 23, 2017 (edited) Here there has been a steady move to "progress" by endorsing pedophilia and bestiality. Do not be surprised if "Tie me wallaby down, boys" moves from the hit parade to an alternative lifestyle. Strailian women tell me there are plenty of wallabys on the dating scene already ;-) Edited November 23, 2017 by Burl Quote
thormas Posted November 23, 2017 Posted November 23, 2017 It does seem that the bar is continually lowered in the USA under the present power structure: big into re-pression, not so much pro-gression. Quote
PaulS Posted November 23, 2017 Author Posted November 23, 2017 19 hours ago, Burl said: Here there has been a steady move to "progress" by endorsing pedophilia and bestiality. Do not be surprised if "Tie me wallaby down, boys" moves from the hit parade to an alternative lifestyle. Strailian women tell me there are plenty of wallabys on the dating scene already ;-) To the contrary Burl, I would be absolutely stunned if bestiality was at all pushed in Australia in any way, shape or form and I see no evidence of any movement here whatsoever toward progressing that. Maybe under your current outrageous leadership in the US people feel emboldened to do whatever the heck they want? Of course that doesn't stop the religious right here fear mongering that gay marriage will automatically lead to sex with animals and children. What they deliberately overlook is that gay marriage concerns mature consent, equality and human rights, whereas bestiality and paedophilia is non-consensual, abuses human rights and requires a power imbalance. Perhaps if they better understood the apostle Paul's homosexuality they might be more relaxed about the issue. Here, the US has a reputation for the whacky and insane (the saying 'only in America' comes to mind) but surely even there you don't have anybody seriously proposing bestiality and/or paedophilia (apart from some freaks and nut jobs)! Really? Quote
PaulS Posted November 24, 2017 Author Posted November 24, 2017 6 hours ago, Burl said: Paul's homosexuality? Yeah, Paul being a repressed gay man. Quote
Burl Posted November 24, 2017 Posted November 24, 2017 6 hours ago, PaulS said: Yeah, Paul being a repressed gay man. Absurd. No evidence whatsoever, unless one counts the appearance of rainbows and unicorns in the KJV. What evidence is there? I know you do not believe the Bible to be evidentiary, so this idea must come from extrabiblical sources I am unfamiliar with. Quote
thormas Posted November 24, 2017 Posted November 24, 2017 6 minutes ago, Burl said: Absurd. No evidence whatsoever, unless one counts the appearance of rainbows and unicorns in the KJV. What evidence is there? I know you do not believe the Bible to be evidentiary, so this idea must come from extrabiblical sources I am unfamiliar with. Agree, it is only speculation, not hard evidence, that Paul was gay, repressed or otherwise. Quote
PaulS Posted November 25, 2017 Author Posted November 25, 2017 6 hours ago, Burl said: Absurd. No evidence whatsoever, unless one counts the appearance of rainbows and unicorns in the KJV. What evidence is there? I know you do not believe the Bible to be evidentiary, so this idea must come from extrabiblical sources I am unfamiliar with. I think it's far from absurd and in fact very logical, but this thread wasn't started to debate Paul's sexual orientation, so perhaps you could consider starting a new thread if you would like to discuss further. 6 hours ago, thormas said: Agree, it is only speculation, not hard evidence, that Paul was gay, repressed or otherwise. One can certainly speculate with a high degree of probability that Paul was a repressed homosexual. Not that it matters if he was or wasn't in my opinion. Quote
Burl Posted November 25, 2017 Posted November 25, 2017 25 minutes ago, PaulS said: I think it's far from absurd and in fact very logical, but this thread wasn't started to debate Paul's sexual orientation, so perhaps you could consider starting a new thread if you would like to discuss further. One can certainly speculate with a high degree of probability that Paul was a repressed homosexual. Not that it matters if he was or wasn't in my opinion. Your complete lack of evidence is noted. Quote
PaulS Posted November 25, 2017 Author Posted November 25, 2017 1 hour ago, Burl said: Your complete lack of evidence is noted. No Burl, just asking that the matter be correctly redirected. I'm happy to do so if you're not though. In anticipation for the new thread though, I'd like you to think about what 'evidence' you can present to prove that Paul was heterosexual. Quote
PaulB Posted November 25, 2017 Posted November 25, 2017 Hi guys i have to say I have been very disappointed with some of the comments that are suggesting that legalizing same sex marriage will lead to endorsing pedophilia and bestiality, I would be willing to bet that the same or similar argument would have been used to argue against decriminalizing homosexuality not only is this absurd it is also highly offensive to gay people because your essentially saying that homosexuality is only one step away from pedophilia and bestiality. Marriage is between two consenting adults it should not matter if they are gay or straight after all as the YES campaign slogan said Love is Love. I also have to say that while there is no concrete evidence that Paul was gay John Sponge put forward a quite compelling argument for it in one of his books I found it very thought-provoking. Paul Quote
Burl Posted November 25, 2017 Posted November 25, 2017 12 hours ago, PaulS said: No Burl, just asking that the matter be correctly redirected. I'm happy to do so if you're not though. In anticipation for the new thread though, I'd like you to think about what 'evidence' you can present to prove that Paul was heterosexual. Your claim, so use your evidence. I never made any claims about Paul but you did. Your supposition must be based on something you believe to be factual otherwise it is pure fantasy. Quote
thormas Posted November 25, 2017 Posted November 25, 2017 12 hours ago, PaulB said: Hi guys i have to say I have been very disappointed with some of the comments that are suggesting that legalizing same sex marriage will lead to endorsing pedophilia and bestiality, I would be willing to bet that the same or similar argument would have been used to argue against decriminalizing homosexuality not only is this absurd it is also highly offensive to gay people because your essentially saying that homosexuality is only one step away from pedophilia and bestiality. Marriage is between two consenting adults it should not matter if they are gay or straight after all as the YES campaign slogan said Love is Love. I also have to say that while there is no concrete evidence that Paul was gay John Sponge put forward a quite compelling argument for it in one of his books I found it very thought-provoking. Paul Maybe I misread it but I didn't take it literally, merely a bit of a put down on Alabama's Moore and defenders. To think that gay marriage would literally lead to these is so absurd (so I agree with Paul) that no serious person could accept this nonsense. Quote
thormas Posted November 25, 2017 Posted November 25, 2017 (edited) 45 minutes ago, Burl said: Your claim, so use your evidence. I never made any claims about Paul but you did. Your supposition must be based on something you believe to be factual otherwise it is pure fantasy. Agree, the 'evidence' has to start with the claim of Paul being homosexual (although it does not matter one way or the other if he was). I do remember Spong on this but would have to refresh my memory - however sometimes the Bishop went a bit too far with his ideas, for example that Mary was raped. Rather than rely on Spong, one should consider some of the critical biblical scholars who have studied Paul. Edited November 25, 2017 by thormas Quote
PaulS Posted November 25, 2017 Author Posted November 25, 2017 2 hours ago, Burl said: Your claim, so use your evidence. I never made any claims about Paul but you did. Your supposition must be based on something you believe to be factual otherwise it is pure fantasy. Please refer to new appropriately initiated thread. Quote
PaulS Posted November 25, 2017 Author Posted November 25, 2017 1 hour ago, thormas said: Agree, the 'evidence' has to start with the claim of Paul being homosexual (although it does not matter one way or the other if he was). I do remember Spong on this but would have to refresh my memory - however sometimes the Bishop went a bit too far with his ideas, for example that Mary was raped. Rather than rely on Spong, one should consider some of the critical biblical scholars who have studied Paul. I have started a new thread Thormas to appropriately capture discussion on this issue, so i would like to read what critical biblical scholars have to say concerning Paul not being a repressed gay male. Quote
PaulS Posted November 26, 2017 Author Posted November 26, 2017 21 hours ago, PaulB said: Hi guys i have to say I have been very disappointed with some of the comments that are suggesting that legalizing same sex marriage will lead to endorsing pedophilia and bestiality, I would be willing to bet that the same or similar argument would have been used to argue against decriminalizing homosexuality not only is this absurd it is also highly offensive to gay people because your essentially saying that homosexuality is only one step away from pedophilia and bestiality. Marriage is between two consenting adults it should not matter if they are gay or straight after all as the YES campaign slogan said Love is Love. I also have to say that while there is no concrete evidence that Paul was gay John Sponge put forward a quite compelling argument for it in one of his books I found it very thought-provoking. Paul I'd like to think that wasn't Burl's own thoughts but rather as he says, him reporting on what he sees as a "steady move" in the US towards endorsing paedophilia and bestiality. I don't know myself just how 'steady' such movements are, but I don't live there. Personally, I doubt there are is any genuine progress towards such sick behaviour, but I'm sure the media can always dig up somebody for some sensational headlines. From an Australian context, as you would know Paul, this is a disgusting connection made by anti gay marriage people which has no basis for reality other than perhaps there is some lunatic fringe that does want to abuse children or animals. Thankfully in Australia there is no genuine progression towards ridiculous views like that. Quote
PaulS Posted December 8, 2017 Author Posted December 8, 2017 On 11/18/2017 at 4:56 AM, romansh said: This was a non binding referendum ... if I am correct? Still a couple of hurdles to then. Our Parliament voted to pass gay marriage laws last night. Now the law is formally enacted this Saturday which then allows same sex couples to immediately lodge a 'Notice of Intended Marriage', which is a required 1-month notice period here for all marriages. Fantastic stuff Australia! Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.