Homophobic?

There is a piece in this morning's paper about a church group which has asked a local council not to put up another flag pole for the purpose of flying the "rainbow" flag. Apparently the council in question already flies the national, state, Aboriginal and Torres Strait flags. 

The church in question is undoubtedly a very conservative one and they may well disapprove of any sort of sexual orientation or relationship outside the "male-female and sexual relations only after marriage". If that is how they feel then they are fighting a losing battle but...the flag flying?

I belonged to the Girl Guide movement, first as a Brownie, then as a Lone Guide, a Guide, a Cadet and a Guider. I finally left it all behind when I went to university in a country on the other side of the world. Until then I had some fun and I did some hard work. I still have a close friend from that time and I know others. We did some things that might not happen now. I don't know.

One of those things was how to raise and lower our national flag and how to fold it. This might now sound more like the sort of thing that the Communist youth groups learn in Russia or China but we did it and other things that have probably long gone. Yes, it is a while since I attended a meeting but back then all this was considered to be just something we did.

I remember seeing our national flag flown and all the maritime flags in the port where my paternal grandfather had his business. There may have been other flags but the Aboriginal flag and the Torres Strait Island flag had not even been designed back then. They could not have been flown....and of course homosexual relations were still illegal so there was no "rainbow" flag.

Recently some of our politicians have appeared for press conferences standing in front of Aboriginal flags and Torres Strait Island flags and the national flag has been nowhere in sight. There are demands our national flag should be changed by those who want to erase the past. Now we are finding that multiple flagpoles are being put up - often at considerable expense - and flags are being flown not out of national pride but to make political statements.

The Flags Act of 1953 has been amended to allow the flying of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags but the national flag takes precedence at all times. Where multiple flags are flown it is the national flag which should be raised first and lowered last. Should we see press conferences without the national flag or the flag in the wrong position? No, of course we shouldn't. Why then are people allowed to do this? These are political gestures. Those flags have their place and would have far more impact if flown on significant occasions rather than at all times.  The "rainbow" flag has no status at all. It is not recognised as an official flag.

I know not everyone will agree with me but I believe we should retain our national flag as it is because it represents our coming together as a nation. It honours the people who were here prior to white settlement through the "Southern Cross" and it honours settlers with the flag of the country the first settlers came from. I believe that the Aboriginal flag should be flown next to the national flag on occasions of special significance to Aboriginal people but not at all times. I believe the same of the Torres Strait Island flag.

I don't believe the "rainbow" flag should be flown next to any of these things but this is not out of any homophobic belief on my part. I simply see it as a symbol belonging to a minority of people who just happen to feel more comfortable in something other than a male/female relationship. I don't think that needs to be displayed for all the world to see because their relationships should not take precedence over any other legal relationship. 

Perhaps I am wrong about this. I might be. I just wish the church in question had thought about it this way though - rather than making demands which cannot and should not be met.