海角大神

This week, Australians will begin voting on whether to legalize same-sex marriage. The vote is peculiar 鈥� it鈥檚 by mail and won鈥檛 be binding. But it鈥檚 intended to show what Australians want. Polls suggest it will pass, though the vote-by-mail element adds unpredictability.

Basically, no one likes this solution. Opponents of same-sex marriage worry that the vote might succeed, while supporters note that parliament could settle the issue on its own 鈥� and meanwhile, the campaign is disparaging lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. What鈥檚 the point? they ask.

That becomes clearer in a television ad by the 鈥渘o鈥� campaign. At one point, a mother says, 鈥淪chool told my son he could wear a dress next year if he felt like it.鈥� The claim has nothing to do with same-sex marriage. But it speaks to a deep sense of cultural insecurity. Advocates for same-sex marriage will wonder what is taking Australia so long, but attitudes toward marriage and homosexuality there, as in the United States, have reversed astonishingly fast 鈥� in little more than a decade. In that way, a vote no one likes represents a country still struggling to find its footing amid seismic change.聽

Here is our take today on stories that examine perseverance, moral leadership, and innovation.