the state

After YES: Snatching Defeat from the Jaws of Victory

After YES: Snatching Defeat from the Jaws of Victory

In the wake of the monumental victory of the plebiscite, the feeling was firstly of relief – justifiable. However, since that time I have seen many of my fellows in the community lament the fact that we had a plebiscite at all. In the spaces I was occupying, you would have thought we had lost. You would have thought that we had not scored a massive victory over the conservatives that has sent them scuttling away like the freaks they are, making the issue of marriage entirely dead for them (and forcing them to move decisively to the issue of trans rights). A sense of malaise, indecision and sadness hangs over a community – and with that there comes an inability to capitalise on the victories of our struggles.