Ballarat City Council will vote on whether to reaffirm its support for same-sex marriage this week, but some councillors are questioning whether the motion has anything to do with roads, rates and rubbish.
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Councillor Ben Taylor said he did not understand why local government would get involved as it was a federal issue.
“We’re getting into the ball park of what’s next, us discussing refugees on Nauru or Australia Day holiday dates? If councillors want to be in that space, they should run for federal parliament,” he said.
Council publicly backed same-sex marriage in November 2014, but since then a new government has been elected and with it, new councillors.
Therefore, council has deemed it necessary to stage the vote again to re-affirm its commitment to Ballarat’s LGBTI members.
Incoming councillor Grant Tillett would not be drawn on whether he supported same-sex marriage or not, but he did question if it should be high on council’s list of priorities.
“I’m neither for or against it,” he said.
“But I don’t think it’s council’s business, to be honest. It’s not roads, rates, or rubbish.”
However, lobby groups such as Marriage Equality Australia say local governments have an important role to play in representing LGBTI residents, who often experience marginalisation and discrimination.
Council’s same-sex marriage vote on Wednesday comes after Ballarat staged its inaugural gay pride march in February.
Event organiser Koby Bunney spoke of the difficulties those in the LGBTI community face, especially in regional cities such as Ballarat.
“Statistics show us that 65 per cent of gay men who grow up in regional or rural towns leave their hometown to come out,” he said.
“This is about saying, we’re here, we’re queer, this is our home and we aren’t going anywhere because we are proud of who we are.” Council voted unanimously to support marriage equality back in November 2014.
