Analyzing Civic Participation in Legalizing Same-Sex Marriage

This analytical essay explores the significant role of civic participation in the legalization of same-sex marriage in Australia. It examines the historical context, including the introduction of bills and the eventual passage of the Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Act 2017. The essay highlights the active involvement of the Australian population, pressure groups, and organizations in advocating for LGBTQ+ rights. It emphasizes the influence of media, particularly social media, in mobilizing support, raising awareness, and connecting the public with government processes. The essay discusses various forms of civic participation, such as NGO campaigns, public demonstrations, and the involvement of public figures, and analyzes how these efforts contributed to shifting public opinion and influencing political decisions. The essay references scholarly articles and media reports to support its analysis, concluding that civic and media participation were crucial in achieving the legal recognition of same-sex marriage in Australia. It also provides a comprehensive overview of the various factors that contributed to the success of the movement, including the role of the media, the impact of public opinion, and the influence of key individuals and organizations. Finally, it touches upon the impact of the USA's changing LGBTQ+ laws on the world.

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ANALYTICAL ESSAY
SAMESEX MARRRIAGE IN AUSTRALIA
AND CIVIC PARTICIPATION IN THE SAME
The following report talks about the issue of same sex marriage in Australia and
analyses the role of civic participation in the same. Same sex marriage has been a hot topic
for the people all over the world in recent past and the present structure. Society is getting
more and more open about their natural attractions biologically and acceptable of the facts.
Australian community has been open on the issue since 2004, when the first bill was
introduced in the parliament in September 2004. Since then, there have been 22 bills
introduced for the same issue but it finally got passed in 2017 when Marriage amendment
(definition and religious freedoms) act 2017 was passed in the Australian parliament in
December 2017. This was not just a struggle for the parliament but also the civil crowd who
have been applying continuous force and pressure on the government for allowing natural
rights to the LGBTQ community (Park, 2014). Australian population has been an active
participator in creating pressure on the government and getting the same sex bill passed in
favour of the communities who have been struggling for the same since a long
time(Nussbaum, 2019). As we all know, Australian organisations and pressure groups are the
most active communities in the world. Media and communication plays a very important role
in the promotion of the voices of public to the government. Students from schools and
colleges have been active members on the social media participation and have helped in

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attracting several eyes to the rights and recognisitoon of the LGBTQ community. Social
media helped people to get together in the marathon and walk for the victory(Sloane and
Robillard, 2017). Active participation of students not only motivates the society but it also
helps in the globalising the issue with a larger number of support. Global participation of
communities all over the world help the people to gain votes and watch out for the
development going on in the other parts of the world. Hence, civic and media participation is
the base to the effectiveness of communication and they act as bridge between the people of a
society and the government(Nussbaum, 2019).
Same sex marriage has been a taboo for many all over the world. Some have
considered this marriage as hype in the community; some have taken it as against the
religiousness of people whereas others have placed it as a crime by the people. But, the world
has been changing continuously and the LGBTQ community takes a stand on the issues faced
by them, the society has backed at all the levels (Sloane and Robillard, 2017). It has been
seen that the new generation is more liberal towards the new ideas than the older ones.
Moral and cultural taboos have been a part of the society and without any logical
base; people have been against the same sex marriage because of its different outlook. In the
first, it has been bit difficult for the communities to accept the same sex marriage but
gradually, changes have been found in the recent past and that is reflected in the judicial
decisions of various countries(Nussbaum, 2019). Not only this, this law passage was creates
with a survey, which was known as a voluntary postal survey for all the Australians and there
was 80% participation out of the population and 62% people voted in favour of the law. This
number shows the excitement and activeness amongst the civic society for the rights of the
LGBTQ community (Malenhorst, 2019). Digital media has been a part of Australian politics
since the time of increase in its usage and more participation of people. Australian parliament
has been open about the involvement of common public in the process of decision making.
Many members of the parliament are directly connected with the public through social media
and allow them to participate in the process of making and passing of laws. Their actions and
decisions are very much backed by the organisations run by common public and pressure
groups and societies(Harris, 2017). Public meetings, news room discussions and right to
protest has played a very active part in the passing of bill which was hung since last 22 years
(Salgado, 2018).

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As in 2017, on November 15, ABC news in Australia talked about the impatience of
the Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull for the legalisation of same sex marriage by the time
of Christmas(Chrisler, 2017). Few examples of the civic participation in motivating the
government for the passing of lawwill be discussed further.
NGO’s have been an important part in the fight of same sex marriage as a law. There
have bee severa public run NGO’s which have worked for years for the betterment of
LGBTQ people and their rights. Some of them are-
a) Allout- supporting global movement for equality and love. It used the strategy of
social mobilization for the LGBTQ rights.
b) Out right international- built a network of people from all over the country and have
worked for the betterment of lives of the people belonging to the community.
c) Organisation intersex international- raised awareness amongst the people of the
country, lobbying various human rights which the community has been deprived off.
Social media, like facboook pages of these communities have been really helpful to get
people together in this struggle. Twitter has been helpful in triggering the awareness
question in front of lacs and lacs of people (Malenhorst, 2019). Set up in 1988, this
organisation has worked for the lives of LGBTI students, kids, youth or elderly. Their
strong laws and pressure creating support rom all the members of LGBTI community
brought a great change in the law reform and change in the social value of the cultural
identity. Not only this, it has helped and backed people in the evolution of same sex
marriage law in Australia. There have been Australian stars who were advently
supportive for the cause. Being a part of public figure, they motivate a great fan base to
think alike and work with them for the passing of law. Some of thee names are- Hugh
Jackman, Chris Hemsworth, Kylie Minogue, Macklemore, Margot Robbie etc.
Getup campaign has been an initiative where the members have narrated the history
of same sex marriage and initiated several movements and rallies and have moved from
getting common rights for the LGBTQ community to the same sex marriage allowance in
law(Harris, 2017). 2016 ruling of high court stated the same sex marriage as illegal and it
attracted a large level of civic participation with rallies, voicing together for the country and
attracting the government and the judicial system to turn their ruling from negative to
positive(Chrisler, 2017). The participation and acceptance by the people grew from 57% in
2007 to 76% in 2017. This was the result of several rallies arranged, active enrolment of

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pressure groups being created and the condition was the upcoming elections and ruling of the
government. Satire programs being published in the digital media, through newspaper
cartooning, arrangement of comedy shows and advertisements were used to mock the
decisions of negative ruling towards the same sex marriage issue(Salgado, 2018). Shaming of
government through the entertainment media was a great influence in the passing of this law
in the parliament.
It was suggested that active participation of people in the government politics needs a
liberal attitude towards the people and diverse communities so as to encourage them for
better choice and governance. Change of LGBTQ laws in the USA have evolved the thinking
process of the world people and media played a very important role in broadcasting of
legalisation of the same sex marriage and its allowance in the constitution of the
USA(Malenhorst, 2019). This structure of civil commitment acts as a representative harmony
increases the feeling of contentiousness and perceptive of the relationship between the new
and the old media, which pressurises organisations to wield their political substance into
diverse networks through appealing in web based collective action(Pew Research Centre,
2019). In spite of social media’s modernization as a politicised paradigm shifting
conventional hierarchal groups for easier contact and campaign harmonization, exemplifies
controversy of digital split in terms of admittance to the social media network and
representations of vigorous minorities apparent in advanced democracy reinforcing
dissimilarity(Nussbaum, 2019). Hence, civic participation in the making of a law and passing
of the same with a wide range of acceptance is very much necessary.
The following report analyses the importance of media and civic participation in the
recent law passed in Australia that legalised the same sex marriage in the following country.
It was studied that people’s participation and involvement in the decision and action
processes of the government are very important to maintain democratic importance in a
country. The examples of civic participation being discussed in the following analysis report
show different media and different types of participation that were needed in the law passing
ceremony of Australia(Chrisler, 2017). It was being acknowledged that this bill for the same
sex marriage was introduced in 22 years from the passing year and the long journey included
rallies of students, people, and protests by the LGBTQ community and their
supporters(Malenhorst, 2019). The vote bank included around 62% support from the public
and that shows of how much the country’s citizens were supportive about the issue(Park,
2014). The role of NGO’s, newspapers, articles on the internet, social media discussions,

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media coverage of protests and rallies, involvement of the foreign laws and researches have
played an important role in rolling the parliament’s decisions for the same sex marriage issue.
REFERENCES
Chrisler, A. (2017). Understanding Parent Reactions to Coming Out as Lesbian, Gay, or
Bisexual: A Theoretical Framework. Journal of Family Theory & Review, 9(2), pp.165-
181.
Harris, B. (2017). Human Rights and the Same-Sex Marriage Debate in Australia. Journal of
Politics and Law, 10(4), p.60.
Malenhorst, L. (2019). Media and Lawmaking. [ebook] Available at:
https://ecpr.eu/filestore/paperproposal/0bfd849e-8142-4bef-a7f0-5b434399d044.pdf
[Accessed 28 Apr. 2019].
Nussbaum, M. (2019). A Right to Marry? Same-sex Marriage and Constitutional Law |
Dissent Magazine. [online] Dissent Magazine. Available at:
https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/a-right-to-marry-same-sex-marriage-and-
constitutional-law [Accessed 28 Apr. 2019].
Park, S. (2014). The Role of Local Intermediaries in the Process of Digitally Engaging Non-
Users of the Internet. Media International Australia, 151(1), pp.137-145.
Parliament, C. (2019). Citizens Parliament | "How can Australia's political system be
strengthened to serve us better?". [online] Citizensparliament.org.au. Available at:
http://www.citizensparliament.org.au/ [Accessed 28 Apr. 2019].
Pew Research Centre (2019). Changing Attitudes on Gay Marriage. [online] Pew Research
Center's Religion & Public Life Project. Available at: https://www.pewforum.org/fact-
sheet/changing-attitudes-on-gay-marriage/ [Accessed 28 Apr. 2019].
Salgado, S. (2018). Online media impact on politics. Views on post-truth politics and
postpostmodernism. International Journal of Media & Cultural Politics, 14(3), pp.317-
331.

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Sloane, J. and Robillard, L. (2017). Factors Affecting Heterosexual Attitudes to Same-Sex
Marriage in Australia. Sexuality Research and Social Policy, 15(3), pp.290-301.