Tim Minchin might be one of Australia’s best-known musical comedians, but if there’s one thing that he considers to be no laughing matter, it’s the safety and wellbeing of his friends, family, and fans, as noted in a recent Facebook post.
With Australians currently receiving voting forms for the same-sex marriage plebiscite, Tim Minchin has taken to Facebook to launch a final attempt at convincing Australians to vote in the affirmative.
Beginning his post by asking “Is there anyone out there who has close gay friends or family members that is voting “no”?”, Minchin goes on to make a series of points that outlines just how ridiculous the ‘no’ vote truly is.
“Whenever I hear an argument against Marriage Equality, I picture the person arguing their point in front of one of my gay friends,” he wrote. “I imagine a dude saying to my gorgeous (handsome, rich, loving) mates who have kids, ‘I think you two having children is a form of abuse.’ I picture a lady standing at stage door after Matilda, & saying to one of our actors,’Your performance made me cry, but you shouldn’t be allowed to marry your partner of 20 years.’ I just don’t think they would do it. They wouldn’t.
“Surely therefore an intellectually honest and humble on-the-fence voter would say to themselves, ‘Well, if everyone who knows some gay people thinks they should be allowed to be married, then logically I suppose *I* would also support Equal Marriage if I had gay friends.’
Minchin eventually closes his heartfelt plea by asking potential ‘no’ voters to consider the facts about same-sex couple in Australia, asking them what they really want their ‘no’ vote to say.
“I beg you to accept the facts: There are probably a couple of million LGBTQI Aussies. There are hundreds of thousands of gay couples. And thousands of family with same-sex parents! THEY EXIST whether you are ready for it or not. So please ask yourself only one question: Do I want to play a part in making those people feel more accepted? Or do I want to hurt them more?”
Tim Minchin had also previously addressed the current same-sex marriage debate, by releasing a parody of Peter Allen’s “I Still Call Australia Home”. “I think the proposed plebiscite on marriage equality is noxious and obnoxious,” Minchin said during the video. “Polls show that Aussies are overwhelmingly in favour of marriage equality (not that is should matter… It’s not fucking X-Factor).”
“If the horrid thing goes ahead, let’s drown the mofos in ‘yes’ votes. The condescending shits think by making it postal, young people won’t vote – prove them wrong.”
Check out Tim Minchin’s ‘I Still Call Australia Homophobic’, below.
