RE: What it feels like to have 4 Million people hate you.
After the same sex marriage approval (maybe it is a bit optimistic assuming that it will be approved, but I think it will) the majority of people that refuse will realize that their lives won't get worse because of it.
The traditional marriage will continue to exist, the sky will continue to be blue and there won't be any biblical apocalypse.
Furthermore, some people will notice the benefits. Incoming tourism will increase, weddings business will get a boost and some people will realize that not all homosexuals are promiscuous.
In Spain we had a similar situation before the approval of same-sex marriage (in that case it was approved by the Parliament without a referendum) and the acceptance has risen a lot. I think we are the most gay-friendly country worldwide, just 12 years after the law change.
nice, i love that you say "just 12 years after the law change"...
Just shows how slow Australia was to progress.
Don't be that pessimistic. The most important changes happened during the first 2 years.
I think that Australia has progressed pretty quickly given 30 years ago I knew guys that would go "poofter bashing". The Gay Mardi Gras changed a lot of people's attitudes and became a major tourist event rather than a freak show.
The saddest thing is that I lost a couple of really good friendships because they could not tell me they were gay, given the time and all, they felt it was not allowable and so opted out of the friendships. I am quite straight, never understood how a guy is attractive, but women are. Each to their own. On the flip side, I never had anything against gay people, male or female. However I found they were often lashing out at straight people on the assumption (correct or incorrect) that they would not be accepted. Which given the attitudes of the time was quite understandable, sad though it was.