Because foxy, there are too many OTHER issues involved and even though the NO camp has got buckly's chance to convert anyone, at least the points are made they are on the record for the NO camp to feel vindicated down the line.
Here is one such vindication. In a recent response I was quite vocal about the YES camp celebrating this first step in this sad and sorry saga. I explained how this recent decision and more so if the govt votes for the YES camp, the queers will suffer physically with continual attacks and so on. As I predicted the attacks have begun. The newspaper of a day or so ago has stories of recent attacks on queers who were lured to various locations with the promise of sexual favours. When they got there they were set upon by one or more people. There were too many cases for me to remember but it was what I would call 'plague' proportion. In some cases it was just one person. The attacks in all cases were quite violent with the use of such things as baseball bats. Some had attached metal objects to increase the amount of pain/damage. So those of you who want to criticize me go ahead, I told you this was going to happen. I'll say it again, this will keep happening and with more aggression and frequency, but it's OK, don't listen to me. Remember my closing words were, keep looking over your shoulder. When I said to go back in your closets it was not just for our sake but also for the safety of the queers. But as a YES camper insisted, no one was going to tell them what to do because they had just as much rights as everyone else. Yeah, sounds great standing on a 'soap box', not so great lying in a hospital bed in a coma with nearly every bone and organ in your body broken or failing.

A follow on comment on the poofter bashings of late. I realise that the offenders, 'if' caught will be punished by law, but I couldn't care less if it was me that had been attacked. The punishment will eventually be served and the aggressor will get on with his life, to do it all again if he is so inclined. On the other hand the queers will be living in fear every day, unlike the attacker. So I caution you YES folk once more . Don't shoot the messenger. Take this opportunity to avoid what is now a whole new world. Before we knew you were there, we did not have to do anything for us all to live in harmony. Now you have attacked/invaded something of ours, and we don't like it. Remember the YES camp brought this on yourselves. The NO camp was away with the fairies, not giving the YES camp even a second of thought.

Dear ALTRAV,

Your concerns for gay safety is commendable.
However, you're not telling us anything new
about gay bashings. These existed particularly
in NSW. It was an injustice of epic proportions.
Homophobic police culture at the time (1960s,
70s, 80s, and 90s) meant that police did not
take the cases seriously. And according to the
Sydney Morning Herald worse, they had at least
some involvement in the "poofter bashing"
rings responsible.

A swathe of murders rocked the LGBTIQ community
in Sydney and the Central Coast during those
times. Around 88 gay men were beaten to their
deaths. Yet many of their deaths were recorded
by police as suicide or accidental. Of 88 cases,
30 still remained unsolved.

We've seen how the recent campaign was marked by
unforgiveable criticism of the LGBTIQ community.
Bigotry and homophobia were openly paraded.
The sexual preferences, the families, and ultimately
the very legitimacy of gay and lesbian Australians
were debated as though their own views hardly mattered.
It was a dismal glimpse at the narrow confines of
conservative minds.

The LGBTIQ community did not welcome this process, and
indeed many have suffered as a result of it. The hatred
and mendacity of the No campaign will live on in the
memory of those it targeted, as a reminder that the
fight for equality must continue.

But as stated earlier, the response to the survey showed
the best of Australia. In a generous and optimistic
exercise of democratic will, millions of ordinary
Australians stared down the forces of superstition and
repression to extend the right of marriage to ALL their
fellow citizens.

Now our Parliament will ensure with the passing of the
Smith Bill and its amendments "that nothing in the
Bill makes it unlawful for people to hold and to
express the views of their own religion on the subject of
marriage."

We cannot ask for anything fairer than that.

foxy,your views are sweet and generous if not, as I have said previously, a little naive. Your comments read like a 'wish list'. This has never been about what the YES camp 'want' but about what the NO camp will let you have. Before, we 'got used' to the queers. We knew they were amongst us and they were not, 'in your face'. Now we have a whole new dynamic. We will never know the true numbers of NO's as there have been too many social and emotional factors which have led to NO voters 'not wanting to get involved'. It does not matter. We are here now and the final lap is upon us. Once the govt has decided to 'run this up the flagpole' we will see what we have to work with. But again foxy, I employ the YES camp to not 'shirt front' the NO mob. The consequences are already evident. The difference is that whilst the run up to the voting the YES camp were running a terrorise and threaten campaign, now we will be seeing a genuine terrorist like action groups, or individuals. You won't be able to tell who is a threat to you and who is not, so you won't know from where the attack will come or when. Where-as the queers are clearly visible and insist on making themselves stand out and therefore an easy target. I am aware of your comments on poofter bashings of the past. I have lived through it. I am now concerned about the poofter bashings of the future. Stay well; and remember keep looking over your shoulder.

//This has never been about what the YES camp 'want' but about what the NO camp will let you have.//

Still hasn't quite sunk in, has it? Your team lost. You're not in a position to dictate terms.

//We will never know the true numbers of NO's//

We already know them. That was the point of the survey.

//You won't be able to tell who is a threat to you and who is not, so you won't know from where the attack will come or when.//

And now we're back to the lame threats... give it a rest. We aren't intimidated by yellow-striped trolls.

Listen here, Toni Troll. I don't waste my breathe on time wasters like yourself. I give genuine accounts. Now the fact that YOU have some kind of problem, you work it out I don't care. I have actual concerns about life after SSM. I wrote my concerns in the form of being forewarned. You choose to discredit and vilify, that's your sick problem. I, on the other hand have shown true concern for what will be a terrible time for the YES camp. My concerns were acted out a day or two ago by the large number of queers who were lured into situations where they were set upon and badly beaten up. Some had to go to hospital. So before you shoot the messenger, stop and actually take in what I am trying to say. The debate is one thing. The outcome is another. So when I spoke of getting beat up, you take it as a threat, I intended it as a warning. Guess what TONI, I am at pains to say it but you were wrong and I was right. How about reading ALL my posts and you might get a better picture of who you are dealing with, not who YOU think you are dealing with. Remember, look over your shoulder.