go get married by those real Christian ministers who are actually practicing their faith rather than the bigots who clearly use religion to hide behind their own bigotry.
Yep, and then eat the cake and beer from sellers who aren't bigots too, I totally get it.
I still think that we need to support true equality in Australia, which means that everyone should have the same access to everything without fear of reprisal, exclusion, hatred blah blah blah. But you make a great point about things no longer serving and dying out. Yet, still, half of us identify as christian, and many more other denominations - what's that all about, in a country where we're not even really practicing? I suppose 30 percent of us on the last census said we don't belong to any religion... I dont even know if it's a good or bad thing. It's a complex issue. But still, I dont really think they should be exempt from laws, as we know where that kinda thing leads to...
So to set aside playing devil's advocate (that term seems rather apt in context, don't you think?)....
Creating exemptions from laws and regulations is a decidedly tricky thing. Because it does create rather nasty precedents. I imagine if any legislation was put forward it would have to get challenged under common law.
One has to ask the question as to the intention of wanting to be exempt from discrimination laws. Which is why I feel the whole argument is based on hypotheticals. Because honestly, I don't imagine any same-sex couples approaching a parish to get married unless they knew that priest was openly and willingly supportive of it. Same with businesses. One would have to question the sincerity of The Church, given their appalling record of abuses over the years. Like when they try to defend against allegations of abuse..... grrrrr..... 😡
The problem is the humiliation that comes by being turned away.... and I'm not sure stuff like that gets fixed with legislation. Hence, I feel the better way, a way that is more pro-active and prevents the humiliation and trauma, is to create databases of businesses/etc that support SSM, and actively promote and patronise those businesses, so the humiliation is avoided in the first place.