Wrap yourself in the warm embrace of the respectful debate and get this one into you: the Catholic Archbishop of Brisbane, Mark Coleridge, says the love of a committed same-sex couple is just “like the love of friends”. Therefore, people should vote No I guess?

Coleridge was speaking on the ABC this morning when he made the comments suggesting that not all love is equal.

“[Same-sex love] is love and it is valuable, but it’s not and it can’t be the kind of love that we call marriage,” he said.

The Archbishop also compared same-sex relationships to a relationship between siblings or between a parent and a child, saying it is perfectly acceptable to discriminate against certain types of love.

“Every human being is equal, but not all are the same,” he Archbishopsplained. “Human societies have always ‘discriminated’ in deciding who can marry whom. Sibling marrying sibling has always been ruled out,” he said. “Parents can’t marry their children. Children can’t marry their parents… People underage have been disqualified from marrying but so too people of the same sex.”

The Archbishop then explained that just because you’re excluding a large section of the population from one of its most fundamental institutions, that doesn’t mean they’re being discriminated against.

“That is not to say that they are not equal. It’s simply saying that they are not the same and that they don’t qualify for what we call ‘marriage’.

Yeah, Nah

For at least the third time in this campaign I’m forced to point out that the relationship between gay couples is not the same as a good friendship for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the fact that we fuck.

We shouldn’t have to keep explaining to everyone that same-sex love is as valid and real as any other love. But that’s what happens when the government orders a national vote on the rights of a minority.

But the good news is that the Archbishop’s comments came on the same day that new polling showed a boost for the Yes side. As the campaign continues (six more weeks!), you can expect more of this nonsense as the No campaign gets increasingly desperate.

You can watch the whole bizarre thing below.