Senator David Leyonhjelm Gave A Surprisingly Awesome Speech About Marriage Equality
Can't overwhelm the Leyonhjelm.
Liberal Democratic Party Senator David Leyonhjelm is an odd duck; he was only elected by mistake because people are silly and can’t read, and his first foray into Twitter was the public-relations equivalent of setting a cat on fire and letting it loose in a daycare centre. He’s a small-L liberal, which essentially means he’ll vote for anything that reduces government influence, lowers taxes or gives him back his precious, precious guns.
Which brings us to the fairly weird occurrence of a hard right-wing politician becoming the latest standard-bearer for marriage equality. In a speech outside Parliament House yesterday, Leyonhjelm flagged that he would introduce a private member’s bill legalising same-sex marriage, and called on the government to grant its MPs a conscience vote. It kicked a fair amount of arse.
“Today I challenge Mr Shorten and Labor Party members to look Senator Wong in the eye and tell her she does not deserve equal rights. Today I challenge Mr Abbott and Liberal Party members to do the same with Mr Abbott’s sister”, Leyonhjelm told reporters.
“If your private life is nobody else’s business, I ask you to understand that the private life of others is none of your business. It is simply not your role to impose your views on others.
“There is no place in Australia for second-class citizens.”
Damn, son.
Leyonhjelm’s said some pretty weird stuff about homosexuality and gay marriage in the past; his first-ever Tweet was literally this:
Is approval of gay lifestyle necessary to support gay rights? Is reckless promiscuity a right? Tolerance doesn’t require approval.
— David Leyonhjelm (@DavidLeyonhjelm) May 19, 2014
Still, it’s kind of nice that same-sex marriage is drawing support from across the political spectrum. It’ll take more than progressive politicians to get a marriage equality bill across the line, and the more conservative pollies who publicly put their hand up, the more pressure on Parliament to finally get their act together.
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Feature image via ABC.