Grumpy Gillian is Grumpy.

[reynardo]

To start - I'm actively campaigning for Marriage Equality. In our upcoming electorate, we have ten candidates, and with one week to go, I'm finding out what their views on marriage equality actually are.

When a candidate has clearly on their page or their party's page what their position is, I note it.

But some aren't that clear, so I've emailed them. One in particular uses his Facebook page as his only contact, and his policies are mostly pretty vague. His only statement that seems to be about Marriage Equality is this:

7. One Law for all Citizens & all citizens treated equally

This could mean almost anything - I could read it as "There should be Marriage Equality" or it could mean "We should abolish all marriage and just have civil unions for all" or "Anyone can marry anyone else as long as they're of different biological sexes". I've seen far-right-wing-staunch-Fundamentalist-Christians say this, but when you get into the specifics, they mean something quite different. I wanted a clear, unambiguous statement.

This is the icon I use on Facebook. It's from a slide picture my dad took when I was 4, and you may have seen it already. Remember this as you read on, and remember that many people use icons that don't exactly look like the way they look now. Also, remember that Facebook supposedly has a minimum age of 13, so that icon definitely doesn't look like the age someone with a Facebook account should be.

So I sent him a Facebook message.

Greetings,

I am interested in my local candidates' views on Marriage Equality, that is, marriage between any two adults, regardless of their gender.

Could you please tell me:

a) Are you for or against Marriage Equality?

b) In a vote in parliament, how would you vote - for or against Marriage Equality?

Regards

And his response?

Gillian, aren't you a bit young to vote? One of my main Policies & Initiatives is a Bill of Rights where everyone is equal and no one is more equal than others. Everything follows from that. You should read the material in my Facebook.

Now those who know me know that it takes a lot to make me angry. This? I felt like I was being patted on the head, or humoured for having an icon of myself at age 4. I wondered if he thought I was a school kid doing homework.

My reply:

Dear Francesco,

As the mother of a 32 year old and 24 year old, I would suggest you research your subject before making an assumption. Which is what I'm doing. It cannot have escaped your notice that a straight answer is a difficult one to find in politics, and thus I am asking you one.

Are you for or against Marriage Equality, and which way would you vote if you were our constituent?

Let's just see where that one ends up, shall we?

Oh yes. We have ten local candidates. We have preferential voting, so I need to number them 1-10. Alas, there isn't a number any lower than ten...

Comments

[feodora.livejournal.com]

OMG

by reading his answer I would question if HE is able to decide and vote?!

[akatnamedeaster.livejournal.com]

Umm, wow, I'm having a hard time figuring out how he thought for a moment that what he replied with was an appropriate response. Patronizing, assumptive -and- stupid, Quite the trifecta there.

[kerravonsen]

*headdesk*

If you're a politician, and someone is asking about your policies, even if you think they're a kid doing homework -- especially if they're a kid doing homework -- then just answer the darned question!

(Darn, I just checked, and http://belowtheline.org.au isn't running this time)

GetUp keeps asking me if I want to help give out how-to-vote cards... in my case, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak; I don't think my knees and feet could cope with standing around for hours, alas, but I'm torn. For me, the big issue this time around is climate change, but those who are against marriage equality are usually also climate change deniers, so, yeah, a pity that one can't give someone a negative preference.

[reynardo.livejournal.com]

There's always http://catespeaks.wordpress.com for the straight dope. That Catherine is a good friend who lives nearby so is in this same guy's electorate.

[kerravonsen]

Thank you for that! Most helpful.

[red-day-dawning.livejournal.com]

I had a cat my brother photographed as an icon for a while... Pondering how he would have responded to a cat requesting clarification on his marriage equality policies.
On a despairing note, a distant family member I follow on Facebook just declared she was a Pauline Hanson supporter and is very anti-asylum seeker. I feel ill. Bewildered. If Australia had not permitted our family to remain here after WW2 when our country of origin no longer existed, no-one in the family would have been born here.

[delphipsmith]

a distant family member I follow on Facebook just declared she was a Pauline Hanson supporter and is very anti-asylum seeker.

I didn't know who Pauline Hanson is, so I googled her. She sounds like your version of Donald Trump. What is it with all these nationalist far-right xenophobes lately? *sigh*

[red-day-dawning.livejournal.com]

I guess it shows how successful it can be to the incite fear and hate? Brexit, Trump, the anti-asylum seeker movement here - people at their worst, I guess.
And then that glib, smug politician Reynardo spoke of; interested to hear how he replies to her response.

[howlin-wolf-66.livejournal.com]

Good for you for coming back at him; he shouldn't be allowed to squirm off that hook! :-(

[delphipsmith]

Yeah, even if he did think you were a kid, he should have had the common courtesy to give you a proper response.

[iulia_linnea.livejournal.com]

Jesus H. WTF kind of answer is that?! >:(