Last week, the results (https://marriagesurvey.abs.gov.au/results/downloads.html) were released of the federal government’s national postal ballot on whether same-sex marriage (SSM) should be made legal in Australia. It was a decisive win for the ‘Yes’ vote by 62% to 38%. Most Australians have either cheered SSM as an equal rights issue or simply shrugged their shoulders, accepted the inevitable and moved on to issues more pertinent to their lives. This hasn’t been the response of all, however.
The ‘Yes’ vote triumphed in 133 of Australia’s 150 federal electorates but of the 17 where the vote was lost, 12 were in the Western Sydney region. This geographic epicentre of the ‘No’ vote, not coincidentally, is also the ethnic ‘Diversity’ capital of Australia, containing many of Australia’s largest enclaves of African, Arab and Asian immigrants. The region, in particular, is considered to be the Mini Mecca of Australia. Australia’s Grand Mufti and sundry Muslim Sheiks regularly preach against homosexuality in the regions’ abundant mosques.
The electorate of Blaxland, for example, is starkly illustrative of what can happen when ethno-religious ‘Diversity’ reaches demographic critical mass – this electorate scored a nation-high 74% ‘No’ vote to SSM, clearly related to the electorate having Australia’s highest proportion of the population who were born overseas (50%), including 30% (compared to 2.6% for the whole of Australia) who are Muslims.
Immigrants who look on SSM with disfavour include African Christian fundamentalists, Central American conservative Catholics, Chinese Christian evangelicals, Asian migrants from Buddhist and Hindu backgrounds and Muslims from anywhere (https://theconversation.com/how-social-conservatism-among-ethnic-communities-drove-a-strong-no-vote-in-western-sydney-87509). The 2015 Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey (https://theconversation.com/revealed-who-supports-marriage-equality-in-australia-and-who-doesnt-82988) found 66% of Australians agreeing that “Homosexual couples should have the same rights as heterosexual couples” but this fell to just 49% amongst migrants from non-English-speaking backgrounds.
It would seem that one marriage that won’t be celebrated any time soon is that between multiculturalism and progressivism. This should be disconcerting for Diversity-besotted leftists and politicians, and cause a rethink on immigration amongst liberals, but so far their response has been a strategic silence ( https://www.spectator.com.au/2017/11/the-religion-of-peace-doesnt-believe-in-same-sex-marriage/).