Walk the walk of democracy, please.

Dear Dr. Leigh,

I am a straight male living in the ACT with a bisexual partner. Coming to terms with her sexuality was a source of a lot of pain and confusion for her, especially in her earlier years, and knowing about these experiences through her and others is the thing that informs my feelings most on the issue of equal marriage.

Whilst I have my own struggles, the sort of persistent injustices perpetuated by homophobia and intolerance are of a different order entirely, and the fact that these phenomena are complemented by legal discrimination in the Marriage Act is one of just a handful of areas in which I feel my country is facing utterly and completely backwards on such a relatively morally straightforward issue.

Historically the Labor Party has claimed to be a party of substantive progress towards social and legal equality. All eyes, mine included, are waiting to see if the party, from the branches up to the parliamentary party, has the mettle to be able to live up to these claims. I know from following your academic and blogging exploits that you are more than equipped to be able to cast a incisive and critical eye on your party's current policy on the Marriage Act. Please take the time to weigh up your priorites on this and other issues -the ones which are *begging* for some kind of respite from the malaise of confected bipartisanship which currently dominates the country's political agenda. You and your colleagues have the ability to make a difference by being honest about your own beliefs, and by paying due deference to the will of the public (I'm certain you know that more Australians are in favour of marriage equality than not) rather than an unhealthy deference to the policy status quo.

Please see this (and other issues) as more than a opportunity for realpolitic, and please have the strength of character to show us that we live in a democracy, or at the very least that there are still those in the Labor party who value democracy still.

Thanks for taking the time.

Your truly,

Colin Aslin