Sometimes, late at night, I wake beside the love of my life and sneak quietly out of bed for a secret liaison. I close the hallway doors, rekindle the fire, and pour myself a large glass of… anything alcoholic. I sit in the dim light, with my dog Bruce by my feet, and let my ears binge on the food of my love – music.
When it comes to music, and sometimes politics, I swing all ways. I’m turned on by the folk music of the sixties just as much as I am by the jazz of the twenties. I suppose you could say that I’m a polyphonic polygamist. Indeed the very word ‘jazz’ once upon a time was used as verb which literally meant ‘to f*ck’. But I digress.
From the great masses of Bach and Mozart to the sacred songs of John Tavener, I am also in love with the music of the church. But where religion in art has succeeded, religion in politics has failed. It is surely one of the greatest misfortunes of humanity’s history that religious establishments have been so obsessed with controlling human sexuality.
Throughout history, and mainly before the establishment of the Abrahamic religions, there are countless examples of societies celebrating sexual freedoms such homosexuality and polyamory. Modern day conservatives reject such sexual freedoms on the basis of maintaining the ‘family unit’, as if families never existed before the likes of Stephen Conroy, Cori Bernardi, and Tony Abbott were there to protect us all so valiantly and so virtuously.
Established religions have always understood that sexuality is identity, and to rob and distort someone’s sexuality is to rob and distort someone’s identity. To indoctrinate the torment of guilt and sin in what should be mutual joy, and to deny our sisters their rightful place in a world as equal amongst men, is nothing but the greatest corruption of power in history.
I do not oppose religion. In fact, I sometimes enjoy reading the bible, I love my Christian friends, and they love me. My fight is with the political influence of religious establishments.
I oppose the religious indoctrination of children; I oppose religious establishments existing tax free; and I oppose with all my heart the immoral protection of those vile creatures who abuse children and hide behind the cloth of the church.
I have walked down the corridors of Parliament House many times now, and it’s more than often that I have found an Australian Christian Lobby business card lying on the carpet. I say to the Christian Lobby, you are not only on the wrong side of history; you are on the wrong side of humanity, and ‘a change is gonna come’.
As the music stops, and as I sit by the fire late at night alone, I think to myself, ‘sex and politics mean love and liberty’.
Steven Bailey is the First Officer and Election Team Leader of The Australian Sex Party–Canberra. Through theatre, music, education, and politics, Steven believes we can make stronger communities and a better world.
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