Two overlapping fronts oppose Marriage Equality.
I have always avoided bringing religion into the debate about Same-Sex Marriage, because I see gay marriage as a means of removing entrenched discrimination in government policy against gays, not a religious issue. However, many religious folks are bringing their religion into it. They seem to think that "offending their religious beliefs" is a trump card for them to play. Maybe it was once.
The opposition to Marriage Equality in civil ceremonies now seems to boil down mainly to two overlapping fronts: the Catholic Church and the right wing of the Liberal Party.
The Roman Catholic hierachy is leading the opposition to gay marriage in Australia and it is shaping up for a big fight on the issue, despite many of its adherents supporting the concept. The church clearly has a firm grip on Prime Minister Abbott's anti-same-sex marriage policy, which is bizarre because the Roman Catholic Church official policy simply does not recognise civil marriages at all - not even between a man and a woman!
It should have no interest in deciding who can and who can't obtain a civil marriage because the only marriages which it will accept are the religious ceremonies which it has actually presided over. Yet the church organisation is undeterred from controlling Government civil marriages policy, as well as its own. How can anyone not sniff the acrid pong of hypocrisy in such a contradictory position?
The smell is just as pungent over on the right wing of the Liberal Party. It professes to uphold "the rights and freedoms of all peoples in a just and humane society" - but seeks to continue entrenched discrimination against a particular group which it dislikes.
The Party also boasts frequently of its willingness to allow its MPs the right to vote according to their conscience - yet Abbott has insisted that a conscience vote will not be permitted. Ministers must follow his ruling and he expects backbenchers to do so too. Just to ensure he gets his way, he will not even permit the Bill to come to a vote.
The Church and the Far Right. The twin guardians of morality or a pair of smelly decaying moral-free zones?