Penelope Ying-Yen "Penny" Wong is an Australian politician who has represented South Australia in the Senate since 2002, and is the current Leader of the Opposition in the Senate. Wong is a member of the Labor Party and was a member of the Federal Cabinet in both the Gillard Government and the first and second Rudd governments. She is lesbian and a month after she assumed her seat on 1 July 2002 she came out.
Penny Wong hit out at the influence of religious groups in renewing calls for marriage equality in the 2017 Frank Walker Memorial Lecture on Wednesday. On The International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, which was observed on May 17, Wong said that civil marriage is “no less a marriage” than a church one, as both existed in “different spheres”.
In a nation that considers itself secular, religion shouldn’t stand in the way of marriage equality. Opposition to marriage equality is rooted in the conflation of religious and secular concepts of marriage, according to Wong. Opposed to the church marriage which represents a religious sacrament, civil marriage is more like a contract.
“I, for one, am perfectly happy to accept the sacramentality of marriage. A marriage blessed by a member of the clergy is a wonderful thing for those who believe in the sacrament,” she said. “It is no less a wonderful thing for those whose marriage is celebrated by a civil celebrant, accepting the contractual nature of the affirmation ‘I do’.” "We, as supporters of equal marriage rights, need to be both vigilant and active when there is any regression to criminalization or re-criminalization of gay relationships," she concluded.
Progress towards marriage equality in Australia has stalled after the Coalition government’s policy to hold a plebiscite on the question was rejected. "The problem in all of this, of course, is the application of religious belief to the framing of law in a secular society. And in societies where church and state are constitutionally separate," Wong said.
Wong also accused Malcolm Turnbull, current Prime Minister of Australia, of having failed to “show character and courage” and “giving in to rightwing pressure against protecting LGBTQ children in schools”. Safe Schools Coalition Australia provides a range of resources to help school staff create safer and more inclusive environments for same sex attracted, intersex and gender diverse students, school staff and families. But many conservative critics claim it promotes gender fluidity rather than simply teaching tolerance of sexual diversity. The program faces an uncertain future when its federal funding expires in some states mid-year.
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