Today, the US lost one of its LGBTQ icons, Edie Windsor, who was a champion of marriage equality in that country. There’s a short video about her in the Political Tweets section below.

However, it’s the situation in Australia I want to talk about. Despite being one of the most socially advanced countries in the would, Oz still doesn’t have same-sex marriage. For some time polls have shown that most Aussies want same-sex marriage to be legal, but governments won’t have a bar of it.

Recently they government finally agreed to a non-binding referendum on the subject, and the voting papers were sent out to all voters yesterday. (They’re not due back until November.) Opponents are complaining about the cost of the ballot (Aus$116 million/NZ$125 million/US$93 million). There’s been a pretty nasty “No” campaign too, which I wrote about a couple of weeks ago here.

A new poll came out about the vote yesterday. 65% of respondents said they would “definitely” take part in the vote and of those, 70% said they would be voting “Yes” i.e. for same-sex marriage. That’s great news!

The big news though is that both NRL (National Rugby League) Australia and Cricket Australia have come out in support of marriage equality and the “Yes” campaign.

It started with former actor, model, and Kangaroo hard man (the national rugby league team is the Kangaroos) Ian Roberts. (That’s him in the pic.) He was the first high-profile Australian athlete to come out as gay. He’s been working for the “Yes” campaign and so asked the NRL to support it. NRL CEO, Todd Greenberg announced that support yesterday. In making the announcement he made the point that it’s very easy for an organization to say they were all about inclusiveness, but there should be some action behind those words. Thus they made the choice to support the “Yes” campaign. Cricket Australia followed suit soon after.

I hope this move sees other sporting groups, businesses, and others, put their public support behind the campaign.

It seems clear that the result of the poll will show overwhelming support for same-sex marriage in Oz. Changing that into political action is often not so easy, but it sure takes away the biggest excuse used to date – that they don’t know for sure that it’s what Aussies want.

 

Cat Tweets

How can people be so cruel? These weren’t feral kittens, because they ran towards people as soon as they saw them. Those people took them home, took care of them, and found homes for them. (Video at link.)

 

He just doesn’t want to be left alone!

 

This is my fave for the day! They’re so sweet, and check out the wee mouse toy too!

Dog Tweets

Looks like she’s treating this dog is an accessory rather than a pet, but it’s still very cute.

 

Other Animals Tweets

Apparently this is a Coati. The WordPress dictionary had never heard of it either. I had to look it up to ensure my assumption from the tweet that it was the animal’s name! You learn something new every day – if you’re lucky.

Insect Tweets

This tweet is in for the pic of the mosquito.

 

Marine Tweets

Wow!!!! Another lovely creature.

Political Tweets

I’m proud to say I have done several stories on Boko Haram over the years, although it has been some time since I’ve done one about any terror group. It is hard getting info about Boko Haram. It’s really dangerous just getting to the part of Nigeria where they operate. The reporter in the video below, Kaj Larsen, is one who’s videos I’ve used a couple of times. (See here and here.)

 

RIP Edie Windsor. I can’t beat what former president Obama said about you:

Few were as small in stature as Edie Windsor, and few made as big a difference to America.

 

Scenic Tweets

Tianmen Mountain is a beautiful national park in Hunan Province, China. Another place for the bucket list!

 

This is on the bucket list too.

 

This is an amazing achievement for any society. Why do they have to spoil it by claiming it was built via magic?

 

Oh Wow! Now I want to go here too!!!

History Tweets

Another job that’s gone by the wayside because of mechanization. No one is complaining about this one, but it must have put thousands out of work!

 

This is so cool! I wonder if she had some sort of secret life? Did she have to dress and act the way society expected most of the time? There’s so much I’d like to know about this woman.

 

Has anyone been inside? What’s it like?

 

It took me a while to work out just what I was seeing here. Wow!

Human Rights Tweets

“Don’t let the words other people say about you, define you.” Wise words to live by.

 

If I was Canadian. I’d sign the petition to revoke Aung San Suu Kyi’s honorary citizenship. The Rohingya have been badly treated in Myanmar for years. What is happening now is only an increase in brutality, not a new thing.

Art Tweets

This is very cool!!!

 

Great pic.

Science Tweets

I know nothing about the book or its subject, but I love the cover!

 

Isn’t it beautiful?

 

Cool vid of sweat on your fingertips.

Weather Tweets

Look at those changes!

 

This is a cool way to see the effect of the rain in Irma.


 

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