Liberal Senator, and Tony Abbott's former personal
parliamentary secretary, Cory Bernardi is again defending his comments regarding a spurious
link between homosexual marriage, polygamous marriage and even bestiality.
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| A cursory Google search shows that Cory likes to have his photo taken with books, but finds it hard to keep his eyes on the page |
Clearly not fazed by the public backlash at his original
equivocation of these relationships, Bernardi now believes that a petition being organised in support of polygamous relationships vindicates his earlier remarks.
"I stand on the record and say, well I was right,"
This from the same man whose internal logic insists that
loving someone of the same sex can be easily correlated to having sex with an
animal:
"Bestiality, of course it was an extreme example, but once again it's linked to the radical agenda of the Greens Party,"
He calls it an extreme example, but still seriously thinks
it a valid one, and what’s more asserts an untenable link to Green Party
policy.
Regarding the question of homosexual marriage Bernardi had
this to say:
"I think there should be alarm . . . If you're going to re-define a word to satisfy demands of a minority then you're going to face continuing demands in that space.''
The thing he fails to take into account is that it isn’t a
minority that is demanding this right; it is the majority!
Yes, the subset of the population that is gay is a minority; but the subset that wants gay marriage to be made legal is a majority. I firmly believe that gays
should be able to marry if they choose to, even though I myself am not gay, and
would thus never benefit directly from the ability to do so. So while I am not
a part of the minority being denied rights, I am a part of the majority that
believes this should be rectified.
Those who are arguing for polygamous relationships to be
given the same right however do not have the backing of the majority of
Australians. They are both a minority in this sense, and also in the obvious
sense that the majority of Australians are not tempted to take multiple spouses
(we assume).
This is the fundamental difference that needs to be
addressed in dealing with fallacious arguments like Mr Bernardi’s. We are not
seeking to affirm rights for minorities because they demand them, but rather
because the majority recognise these inherent rights. You don’t have to share
in a minority’s reality in order to agree with their position. And when the
majority of the population believes that these rights should be recognised, it
is not kowtowing to the minority; it is the will of the majority.
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| I'll just leave this here |
What’s worse is that setting up ones position based solely
on the ‘slippery slope’ argument fails to take into account any differences between propositions. It
simply asserts that if you allow one thing, then you must allow others. The
same argument was dragged out in opposition to mixed marriages, and no doubt
many of those who employed it in the past would feel as vindicated of their
bigoted beliefs due to the push for gay marriage coming after mixed race
marriages, as Bernardi does when facing polygamy today.
But just because one thing can lead to another, does not
mean it must. And what’s more, just because one thing is allowed, does not mean
all subsequent things must also be permitted.
The strength of the slippery slope argument rests solely on
its ability to prove a link between these subsequent propositions. In this
sense, Bernardi and others fail miserably.
There are fundamental differences between allowing gay
marriage, and allowing polygamous marriage. One requires a fundamental change
to the marriage code, and associated laws, the other does not.
It is not hard to substitute a husband and husband, or a
wife and a wife, for a husband and wife in our legal system. It is
fundamentally the same thing; recognising a relationship between two
individuals. Indeed much of our legal system now accepts the role of same sex relationships in one form or another. Adding a third party to the affair
however would require a whole new set of rules to deal with the ambiguity or asymmetry
of a multi-partnered relationship, whether it be sorting out inheritance, defining
guardianship and so on.
All this being said, I myself don’t have any major
objections to polygamous relationships, I just don’t think them very practical,
or stable. If I was to be proven wrong, and shown that people could make such
an arrangement work harmoniously, then more power to them.
But at the end of the day these two arguments are separate arguments,
linked only by the fact that they both deal with relationships and marriage,
but not linked in any fundamental way that would demand both be recognised
should either ‘cross the line’ into law.
Thanks for reading,
MM
