Thousands of Queenslanders joined voices and hands to demand marriage equality without a plebiscite, with the march shutting down Brisbane streets with a sea of rainbow.
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More than 2000 people gathered in Queen's Park in the CBD to call for a change to Australia's marriage laws, one of several rallies across the nation, and the latest in a long line held in Brisbane in support of the LGBTIQ community.
Queensland, once one of the nation's most backward jurisdictions when it came to LGBTIQ rights has made strides to change its state-based laws in recent months, moving to expunge historic convictions for consensual homosexual acts, standardising the age of consent and removing the homosexual advance defence – known as 'gay panic' - from the state's provocation defence laws.
The state Labor Government also re-instated state-sponsored ceremonies for same-sex couples, fulfilling a commitment made when the previous LNP government scrapped civil unions for registered relationships in 2012.
But support for same-sex marriage is not uniform across the state, with LNP MPs, including Mark Robinson and federal MP Andrew Laming, questioning whether their electorates are in support of a change to federal laws.
Coalition Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull committed to holding a plebiscite, which would be legally non-binding and has been priced at $160 million, before the end of the year if he wins next Saturday's election, in a move he said would allow Australians to have their say on the issue.
But supporters of same-sex marriage believe the debate has already been decided, with polls increasingly pointing to a nation in support of the change, with concern mounting any plebiscite will only allow a "campaign of hate" to mount against the LGBTIQ community by a well-funded and vocal minority.
On Saturday, Fairfax Media revealed a push was underway within the Coalition party room to allow conservative MPs and Senators to vote against marriage reforms if their individual electorate had voted in a majority no, even if the majority of the nation had voted yes.
That would allow anti-marriage equality campaigners to concentrate resources in more conservative leaning regional and outer-suburban electorates, where there is a higher chance of a 'no' vote, to frustrate the expected popular vote.
Saturday's march zeroed in on the desire for change without the plebiscite.
Queensland Greens Senator Larissa Waters said she believed the wider public had already made up its mind in favour of the change, having watched nations across the world usher in marriage equality, and that any plebiscite could result "in a publicly funded hate campaign of divisiveness, disunity, prejudice and bigotry".
"Australians don't want that, they want their parliament to get on with the job of making laws," she said.
"The Prime Minister should stand up to his backbench and dump this plebiscite idea – it a waste of $160 million and it will cause division and hatred and biogrity and disunity in the community.
"We don't need that at any time – but let alone now."
The election will be held next Saturday.
