This is fucked up in Political shit

I’ve blocked my mother and my little brother from my Facebook. No real trigger for doing so, other than their silence. I’m sick of being taken for a ride, pretending everything is okay and fine and dandy.
My finger hovered over the button for such a long time. I hesitated, wondering if I really wanted to do this. I blocked my dad over three years ago and have no issues whatsoever with that, but this I wasn’t so sure.
And I did it. And now I feel bad. They’ll notice that I’ve blocked them.

As far as I’m aware, they’ve remained silent on this because they either don’t care (which is my preferred option) or they feel uncomfortable with it. And, in light of all the bullshit going on with the Australian government and the Australian people getting the vote in a survey on my and my peer’s future, I’ve had so fucking much running through my mind. I just had to think to myself what the pro’s and con’s were and are. I came out at 19 to my family. I am now 5 months away from turning 34.
And it’s been basically silence in that time. Every single family event, not ONE thing is uttered about how I am or how my life is going. They don’t want to know. They don’t even know how to bring it up. It’s taboo. And I’ve hit my threshold. I’m only human.

The silence tells me everything, as far as I’m concerned. I never get a ‘like’ on anything that I share or post on FB from any family member, ever, and my parents are constantly travelling in a car for 2 days straight to go visit my little brother in Mt Isa, but won’t ever travel an hour and a half into Brisbane to see me. My little brother has kids, and the grand-kids are the priority. It’s almost like I’m invisible.
And I don’t actually think about it all that much, because that’s just how it’s always been. I’m sure that if I did miraculously spit out a kid one day, my parents would suddenly take an interest in my life. But, they are brainwashed by religion, and always have been. They are also from rural Queensland, a homophobic hotspot, and they are also in the only electorate (Maranoa) in the entire of Australia where the majority of citizens (over 50%) do not support marriage equality.

And I know they don’t. I know, without even having to ask, that each of my parents will vote ‘No’ on that postal ballot when it gets sent out.

“Do you support a change in the law to allow same-sex couples to marry?” - this is the question that all Australians on the electoral role will have the option of answering should they wish to.
And whatever the result is doesn’t mean jack-shit. Unless it’s no, then it’s definitely no. If it’s yes, then it could still be no. It’s skewed entirely against us, in so many ways. 16 and 17 yo’s who are on the electoral role apparently can’t vote in this because they aren’t 18, and let’s face it, the government does this because the younger generation are a million times more likely to have gay and lesbian friends and therefore vote ‘Yes’.
Our government has no balls, is cowardly, and are clinging onto their overpaid jobs for as long as possible, because they know that this is inevitable. They use “keeping our electoral promise” as their excuse, but people are really pissed off.
I’m expecting a whitewash at the next election, which isn’t until 2019, unfortunately.

There’s even ads on TV now for it, telling people to enrol before August 24th if they want to vote in this. But the thing is, these new enrollments could swing seats entirely. I agree with Waleed from The Project when he said he thinks the government has shot themselves in the foot by doing this, because young people generally can’t stand the LNP.

So now there’s this campaign urging people to vote in this and to not go down the path of both Brexit and Trump. The difference is, ours is entirely non-binding and costing us taxpayers $122 Million to do. And the government is doing it through the Australian Bureau Of Statistics to try and bypass legal loopholes, including the senate rejecting their initial bill. If they don’t do through the electoral role, then this isn’t a poll. It’s a survey.

Us LGBT people are used to being treated like second-class citizens in Australia. It’s nothing new. But now everyone has a say. The homophobes and the uneducated and people like my father have a say. It’s in this instance where I will become religious again for a moment and say, God help us all.

Apparently putting glitter in with your postal vote can invalidate the vote. Apparently the head of the ABS is the most homophobic cunt on the planet. Or used to be. He’s apparently apologized for the hideous comments he made about us years ago.

This whole situation is preposterous. I’ve never been more proud to be who I am, but I’ve never been more ashamed of who is running this country in my life.

I read on a travel advice blog once where the traveller was giving his tips and he said, “Don’t judge a country and it’s people by their government,” and I feel that couldn’t be more true then it is right now.
It’s got so many people riled right up.

I hung out with a group of friends on Saturday night and we ate food and played a game of Monopoly Empire. I ended up winning! :D
Of course, the topic of this postal ‘survey’ came up and we all had our say, especially with 4 of the 6 of us being in same-sex relationships. I ended up saying that it was too depressing to talk about, but I still remain hopeful. Even Sportsbet has betting odds on us lol, at a 3-1 shot of Australian’s wanting same-sex marriage laws changed. Of course that’s pissed off the gays as well, but I just find it funny since Sportsbet will offer bets on anything they can think of.
Had I put $100 on Trump becoming president back in the day, I’d be $350,000 richer right now. That’s how bad his odds were. Who knew?

Anywahy, I’m kind of rambling all over the place. I just wanted to say I now feel bad for blocking my mum and little brother. I can now unblock them, but it will have defriended them also. Ergh, why do I have to feel bad? I shouldn’t because I know I should stick to my guns because I feel that I’m absolutely right about how they feel about me.

This sucks and I hope that the majority of Australia has a heart.

Last updated August 15, 2017