One for the thoughtful, educated, professional, Anglo-Saxon, male, heterosexual chaps.

Dear Dr Leigh,

I know that unlike most of the people we call politicians in this country you are actually very intelligent and reasonable. I know about your noted work as an economist at the ANU and I know you have a PhD from Harvard and that you once worked under then Chief Justice Michael Kirby — which is pretty cool. I’ve also had the pleasure of talking with you and can personally attest to your impressive knowledge of policy and your acute ability to reason.

I also know that you are not an ideologue and that you are not beholden to some outdated, monolithic political stance but that you are instead a modern, free-thinking person who aligns himself with the progressive heritage and commitment to social justice of the nominal Left in this country. I know all this because in 2010, for the first time ever, I voted for someone I actually knew something about.

And so because of all this I almost feel stupid in asking when you will show your fulsome support for equal marriage, because it is so evident from your admirable political and intellectual pedigree that you obviously realise it is 2011 and that we still don’t have equality for same-sex couples. It seems unnecessary for me to plead with you to do so, when you’re a clear thinking man who couldn’t help but be aware of the facts of life. It is surely redundant for me to mention, for example, that gay people have been around forever and that marriage has been around forever and that it seems strange that these two things are so rarely allowed to coincide. And so I won’t go further and mention that when we look back in thirty years at this disgraceful situation and feel about the lawmakers of 2011 how we now feel about the lawmakers who presided over racial or gender inequality in previous decades — well I needn’t go on and finish that thought, because for a person of your learning and your commitment to progressive politics, you’ve already had that rather obvious thought yourself.

Most issues in politics are nuanced affairs with strong arguments from the Left and the Right and I’ll be honest: I don’t commit to any political party because I can’t possibly decide on any of these things; like what are we supposed to do about Afghanistan? You know what I mean? But luckily there’s one issue, Dr Leigh, about which thoughtful, educated, professional, Anglo-Saxon, male, heterosexual chaps like you and me can easily come out in support of and that is equal marriage rights. Well, there is another one but we’ll leave tax reform for another day.

Anyway I know this whole thing was pointless so please just discard this letter, as I’m sure it will find you just as you are about to issue that statement calling for equal marriage rights. And so in anticipation of that likely outcome, I commend you for doing what should have been done a long time ago.

Sincerely,

Jamie Freestone.