Recently, the Australian Bureau of Statistics launched a referendum on same-sex marriage for all citizens by mail. Although the result of the vote does not have a direct mana effect, it has aroused great concern and controversy because it cost one hundred and twenty one million nine hundred and ninety nine thousand nine hundred and ninety nine Australian dollars (640 million yuan), and public opinion has always believed that the majority of public opinion is in support of same-sex marriage. Goverment is accused of wasting money, while politicians are seen as lacking the courage to do so.
Last week, a female employee was sacked by an employer for publicly saying on Facebook that she would vote against it. And some advocates of same-sex marriage, who call on people to vote through phone calls, text messages and door-to-door knocks, are seen by some as infringing on their freedom and privacy, and the direction of public opinion has changed. Move in a direction that supporters don't expect. Given that similar investigations have been conducted twice in Australia, but the same-sex marriage bill has yet to be passed, some politicians have used it more frequently, promising the LGBTIQ crowd to win their votes, and then repeatedly reneging on their promises. And even showed the opposite attitude. For a moment, public opinion is really raging.
To be honest, I didn't think it had much to do with me at first, even though I was a couple or gay. From a personal point of view, I am not Australian, I have not talked about an Australian boyfriend; It was just the end of an unbearable relationship, very negative about love, feeling that marriage and family, things that had been particularly desired in my life, were far from being accessible and elusive in my life. So, in accordance with the foreign way of cleaning the door of their own snow, this matter I can no longer care less.
However, as one of the heads of the LGBTIQ office of the University of Melbourne graduate student association, I came into contact with some information about the matter from every aspect because of all sorts of opportunities and my own curiosity. I think maybe not everyone, especially Chinese students, has a chance to understand these things. Then, write down what I see and hear and what I feel, it will have some meaning.
First, tell me about Australia's own history of attitudes towards the LGBTIQ population. As we all know, Australian men are known for their masculine image of a tough man. For example, Wolverine Hugh Jackman and Raytheon Reese Hemsworth are often seen on the big screen, and his brother Liam Hemsworth.
Objectively speaking, because Australia has historically been a place for prisoners exiled in the United Kingdom, and the local economy is dominated by mining, animal husbandry, and so on, as well as the very difficult accents and slang spoken by Australians at first glance, Australia is often complained of as "dirt, rough" in English and Chinese culture. In addition, most Australians are less likely to pursue higher education because of their mediocre outlook on life and values, so many start working after graduating from high school or college. Because of the large number of people working in the construction industry (plumbers, electricians, etc.), another widely known image of an Australian man is tradie; Women, on the other hand, are stereotyped because they often work in a retail supermarket, Woolworth or Coles, but unlike Australian men who have a special word to refer to.
Thus, it is conceivable that a more masculine Australian culture is not particularly friendly to the LGBTIQ population. And this is true in history. In the 1970s, an episode of Bruces in the British drama Monty Python appeared on Australian screen. Although the image of a rough man in Australia was an artistic exaggeration, it still objectively reflected their rejection of and contempt for the LGBTIQ crowd at that time. The word "poofter", which derogates from the softer male group, is also widely circulated. In addition, it is worth mentioning that the show also reveals, to some extent, the disdainful attitude of Australian men towards women and the lesbian community at the time. In the lines "the doormats of the western world" and "she clearly hasn't met a real Aussie bloke" (Bongiorno, 2017). (PS, my landlord is a middle-aged man in his mid-40s and fifties, He also often watches similar very masculine TV shows and some sports shows. PPS, he is a tradie.)
In fact, Australians do not deny these characteristics of their culture. In the best-selling book (The Australian Legend) published by renowned Australian historian Russell Ward (Russel Ward) in 1958, the best-selling book, (The Australian Legend), is characterized by a love of drinking, hard work, anti-intelligence, and a sense of fraternity. Is classified as the main image of an Australian man (Bongiorno, 2017). " Although the book was later criticized for representing only those from outside the city (that is, from the jungle-bush;) In the past, Australians living in the jungle were mostly engaged in agricultural and mining-related work), urban dwellers, non-British immigrants, aborigines and women were missing in the book. Another influential new left-wing historian in Australia, Humphrey McQueen (Humphrey McQueen), went on to point out that the Australian working class in the book is pro-British and racist.
In 2000, Richard Nair (Richard Nile) wrote in his book "the Legend of Australia and its grievances" (The Australian Legend and its Discontents) that Australian culture is also reflected in Australia's beaches (lifeguard culture), the city (hooligans), "(Bridge, 2008), what goverment advocates is that multiculturalism is the new feature of Australian culture. But multiculturalism has brought about more different religions and beliefs, some of which are very sharp towards the LGBTIQ population.
However, human nature is indelible. "before the gay movement emerged in the 1980s, Australia had a more popular mateship, a good buddy relationship. Ward himself made the point in his book about whether such a buddies relationship is a sublimated homosexual love relationship. The remarks were bold in Australia at the time.
These facts, hidden under Australia's masculine-dominated culture, were accompanied by the emergence of the gay movement, which led to the discovery. Another focus of the gay movement is the fight for legislation. In Australian history, sodomy has been found guilty of being hanged. Five years later, with the passage of the sexual crime Act in England and Wales in the UK in 1967 (implementing some of the recommendations in the 1957 Wolfenden report, modifying homosexual sex among adults over the age of 21 is no longer a crime), South Australia passed similar acts in 1972 and 1975. In 1984, New South Wales passed a program. In 1997, Tasmania passed. But the legal age to allow homosexual love sex has always been older than heterosexuality, and New South Wales, which is regarded as Australia's most open area, only modified the discriminatory difference in 2003.
Although Australia, in the early 20th century, was as aggressive as its neighbor New Zealand in terms of female voting rights and female education. But in the international context, Australia is now moving from leader to follower in a lot of things (Bongiorno, 2017). In the past 40 years, Australia has made great progress in improving LGBTIQ rights. But internationally, Australia, which has been proud of its economy and culture, has lagged too far since the Netherlands first passed the same-sex marriage bill in 2001 and passed Taiwan in May 2017.
All in all, it can be seen that Australian culture and history, both internally and externally, are largely masculine, more masculine or proud of masculinity. Compare "straight male cancer" with a network buzzword analogy. Many locals blame Australia's failure to pass the same-sex marriage bill so far on goverment's inefficiency and political parties, and politicians' inaction after being elected to power. But personally, under the influence of a more popular attitude towards avoiding direct conflict in western culture and under pressure from political correctness, many people are likely to say one thing on the surface and hold another set of views in their hearts. Has led some to be overly optimistic about the situation in Australia (although more than 2/3 Australians supported same-sex marriage in advertising campaigns involving a number of big Australian companies that promoted same-sex marriage, But these surveys are not mandatory, and some people will not participate. No wonder, coupled with Australia's patriarchal culture that has long been rooted in its history.
(author: head of the LGBTIQ Office of the Postgraduate Association of Melbourne University.) this article represents only the author's personal views.