With Labor’s bill to back same-sex marriage unlikely to be debated by federal parliament until August, Professor Vrasidas Karalis told Neos Kosmos this week that “society itself should take responsibility for matters that pertain to private life and social ethics”.
“We cannot afford leaving such important issues to institutions which want control and domination,” he said.
“Individuals are responsible for their life – not social ideologies or religious beliefs – and when two adults want to do something in mutual consent, the state should have nothing to do with it.”
Opinion polls suggest support for marriage equality is even higher in Australia than in Ireland, which overwhelmingly supported the introduction of gay marriage in a referendum two weeks ago. Professor Karalis say his fear is that in Australia the issue is fast becoming a political football.
“Politicians sacrifice innovation to post-election alliances and give-and-take deals behind the scenes.
“I think that a general referendum should be the only legitimate strategy, so that all political parties, and all conservatives who react to it, have no excuse to ignore the significance of the issue.”
The gay marriage debate has divided the Greek Australian community, with advocates of same-sex marriage critical of some of the community’s more socially conservative elements.
“Despite what is claimed by social conservatives, the Greek Australian community, and especially the young, are open to the new challenges and keen to accept change,” says Karalis.
“In Greece, members of the gay community are still stigmatised, but they are fighting back, gaining visibility and power within the legal frameworks provided by the EU. A same-sex union doesn’t have to be a religious ceremony: it can be a civil union like the usual wedding ceremony.
“In Australia, the problem is because of existing prejudices imposed by anachronistic customs, many talented and creative people are lost to the [Greek] community and disappear within the wider Australian society, changing their name and constructing a new identity for themselves.
“It is an immense haemorrhage of intellectual capital. There is a place for everyone in Hellenism. It is time to nurture difference and acceptance and promote the values of an open and tolerant community, without fears or disrespect for difference.”
Professor Karalis says that young Greek Australians “have grown up within the context of a multicultural and multi-religious society and have no problems in accepting different behaviours and practices”.
“Many conservatives from the previous generation project their own fears and phobias on them and it’s time to move on. The recognition of same-sex union shows that society evolves and changes its principles, on the basis of including groups and individuals that were excluded from visibility and acceptance.”
The professor added that same-sex marriage would “create the legal and ethical framework to enhance personal responsibility and will redefine inter-personal relations for decades to come”.