2015-03-04
Simon Copland and Joel Dignam
Just one step in a long road
By Simon Copland
Marriage equality campaigns have gained huge support, and while you'd be forgiven for thinking the issue is the 'final frontier' of legal discrimination against LGBTIQ people, the reality is that trans*, gay, lesbian, bi, intersex, asexual and queer people face a range of different and varied forms of discrimination every day that have nothing to do with whether they're single, partnered, married or widowed.
LGBTIQ people continue to face discrimination in all aspects of life. For example, young queer people in particular face ongoing pressure and discrimination, with the group facing significant mental health problems. This is particularly true for trans* people, who face workplace discrimination (leading to higher unemployment rates than the rest of society), violence on the streets and in turn extremely high suicide rates. Meanwhile, a recent Senate Inquiry has exposed that intersex people still face unnecessary and forced medical treatments, with doctors pursuing treatments to 'correct' their gender. The advocacy group, Organisation Intersex International told the committee that every single one of its members had experienced some form of coerced medical intervention. Finally religious groups are able to discriminate against LGBTIQ people, denying people the rights to jobs and students the right to enter their schools. Recent experience has also found Government funded school chaplains preaching highly homophobic material at schools.
It seems rather obvious to me that the stories of the trans* person who is bashed on the street, or the intersex person who has faced forced sterilisation, or the young gay or lesbian person who is considering suicide are just as important as the stories of those lesbian and gay people who are able to form stable enough relationships in order for them to get married.
Yet these stories have taken a backseat as the marriage equality campaign appeals to mainstream society — and theoretically conservative politicians — in a way that 'less palatable' bodies and stories don't. It's been a frustrating situation for campaigners for teen mental health improvements and deeper awareness of non-traditional gender identities and relationship configurations.
It is true that marriage has become an extremely important symbol and its passage would be seen by many as a significant milestone in indicating the willingness of the state to treat gay and lesbian people equally. Yet, unfortunately it is little more than a symbol. In Australia marriage equality actually has few practical impacts. State-based de-facto legislation gives same-sex couples practically all of the same rights as their married straight counterparts.
So you'd have to hope that when marriage is passed, we could turn together as a movement to creating real life changes for LGBTIQ people.
Unfortunately evidence suggests achieving this symbolic gain does not automatically mean progress in other areas. In the United States for example same-sex couples can now marry in 37 states, with national equality due any time soon. Despite this, discrimination against LGBTIQ people is still rampant. Trans* people still face discrimination and violence, queer kids are still committing suicide, and conservative Governments are still moving to discriminate in any way they can. The same can be found all around the world.
How do we avoid the same challenges? We know that the only thing that will result in real progress for LGBTIQ people are concerted campaigns on these issues — ones that open up a more progressive debate about gender and sexuality rather than trying to confine us to being “normal”.
For one thing, we need to shift a chunk of our energy and resources into these issues — committing strategy and planning now and ensuring we work heavily on these campaigns if and when marriage equality passes. Queer people continue to die on our streets and we simply cannot ignore that any longer.
There are areas where the marriage equality campaign can provide the important momentum we need for these issues. Marriage equality campaigns have built a lot of goodwill in recent years and we need to capitalise on that for future success. Yet at the same time we need to look at our messaging around marriage to see how it impacts the broader LGTBIQ community. Campaigners have unfortunately been accused at times of pushing other issues under the bus in order to succeed on this one front. Short-term success is sometimes put ahead of long-term gain. This needs to change, with us in particular looking at marriage as part of a broader campaign for LGBTIQ rights — one that requires a strong progressive debate about sexuality and gender identification.
Marriage has become an extremely important issue for LGBTIQ people. Yet it is just one step on a very very very long road. We should be thinking a lot more about the other issues facing our community — issues that cannot be ignored any longer.
Simon Copland is a member of the editorial board for Green Agenda.
It has energised the community
By Joel Dignam
On 22 October 2013, the ACT Legislative Assembly passed an act legalising same-sex marriage in the ACT. Promptly, 46 same-sex couples lodged papers to get married. The legal definition of marriage had expanded by a little bit, and same-sex couples came that little bit closer to full equality, in the eyes of both the law and society.
Eight weeks later, the High Court overturned the laws, meanwhile making it clear that the Federal Government can legislate for marriage equality. And indeed, we've never been closer federally to such legislation. However, just when success seems to be within our grasp in Australia, queer campaigners are beginning to question the validity of same-sex marriage as a campaign focus. “Are we fighting for the right thing?” we ask ourselves, “and — when this campaign is won — what then?”
I'm interested in the strategic thinking going on around this question, and the underlying assumptions about how change happens. Myself, I think there are many important issues facing queer people today. Marriage discrimination is just one of these. But if we are to think in terms of our ultimate objective as queer campaigners, then we should recognise that 'equal love' is a critical step.
This question is complicated because the queer movement is heterogeneous. Some queer people don't give a rats about getting married. Some same-sex attracted people don't identify as queer, or as part of a movement. Some gay people may be privileged such that marriage is the only barrier between them and the mainstream — while others are struggling with questions of gender identity, or against barriers of race, class, or gender. It doesn't make sense to say that something as diverse and ineffable as the queer movement should focus on anything, let alone marriage equality.
Given this, it's possible the noisy pursuit of marriage equality reflects power imbalances within queerdom. Maybe a powerful cis-gendered minority is happy to dominate and further this dialogue only until they achieve their aims, meanwhile neglecting the many other issues and injustices.
Nonetheless, I feel that ending marriage discrimination will be a good thing for all these diverse groups in the queer movement.
Doyen of organizing, Marshall Ganz, argues that campaigns are “the process through which your constituency organises itself to create the power they need to achieve their goals.” The point of a campaign is less to solve everything, and more to build power to continue to achieve victories. Legalising same-sex marriage won't only reduce discrimination — it will give queer organisers a stronger platform to create further change — “As we accomplish each objective, we generate new resources that can be applied to achieve the subsequent greater objective.”
For this to be the case, tactical considerations come in to play. Some tactics may accomplish an objective without building power within a constituency. Certainly, queer campaigners should not win their rights by meekly trudging into the tent of patriarchal marriage, their tails between their legs. Rather, the same-sex marriage campaign can be about dismantling the walls of the tent, expanding it to be open to more of us, and continuing to liberalise this cultural institution which has already changed so much to accommodate progressing ideas around race, class, and what happens in Vegas.
So the question isn't whether same-sex marriage is the most important issue. The question is: how can we work together to turn the resources we have into the power we need to address the challenges facing the queer community? Thus far, the equal marriage campaign has energised a wave of campaigners -—queer and allies — working towards a society in which your sexuality doesn't determine your marriage rights, your odds of experiencing mental illness, or whether your parents accept you for who you are. If — when — this campaign is won, we won't be at the mountaintop. There'll be trials ahead. There will be more tragedies like Leelah Alcorn's suicide.
But the success of this campaign towards equality will make us stronger and better able to keep fighting. We'll have even more to be proud of.
Joel Dignam is an ACT Greens member and the office manager for the ACT Greens.