We are kindred spirits! I like all your picks, plus the only cover of “Creep” I can even tolerate is the creepy (ha!) version by Scala and the Kolacny Brothers (think “The Social Network” trailer.) Some artists just can’t/shouldn’t be covered...

I’m back home in Australia now but was in the US for the 10 years ending in Trump. Everyone around me was saying “don’t worry, the polls are all saying strongly Yes...”

They’re going to make poor Bobby Finger do it, I just know it.

What the hell is wrong with that book? Every single thing you do will hurt/kill your baby. Stress constantly! (Except stress will hurt/kill your baby, so don’t.)

I’ve been in multiple book clubs and often didn’t get through 1/4 of the book, they were all such trite garbage (life is too short for bad sex, bad books, and cheap toilet paper.)

I admit that despite being the “people-first language” police, I feel relieved when I am asked to write about a trans person who uses “je/jem” or “zhe/zhem” instead of the singular “they/them.” I understand we use the singular “they” all the time in casual language, and a lot of trans people want to use an existing…

No, but I’ve heard of it being a reason to go to prison - and go back, and go back, and go back - because at least in some states they have to give you your hormones if you were on them before.

Kate Bush’s “Wuthering Heights” or it’s nothing. Especially if there’s more than one of you and you can all do the dance moves, because everyone else in the place is open-mouthed, “WTF is this?”

I think “yeah, okay” when he’s on TV but the man has presence IRL. I lived in Hollywood for 10 years and I’ve seen/met/known a whole lot of celebrities, but they’re usually disappointingly normal (well, normal is not the word. I’ll go with “unimpressive.”) Only three have ever had ‘it’ in my opinion and he’s one. It’s…

I agree with you about power dynamics, but what about lateral violence? Is that racism or something else? “Obama isn’t black enough” is the most obvious US example that comes to mind, or the criticism when black men marry non-black women/vice-versa... living back in Australia now I see it constantly working in…

I’m so sorry. I have loved ones who are really hurting at the 38% no even though it was still a “Yes” win... I can’t imagine how it would feel knowing the people around you voted against your equality (your dignity, really) and successfully denied you your rights. I hope when you say “they no longer remember” that…

That’s sad about the changes! Are you here on working visas? I think you and future little-yous would make great Australians :)

Ha no problem! I’m a big fan of the preferential system and I lived in the US for ten years where the idea occasionally gets floated (especially after Trump... I’ve sure you’ve seen people crazily angry at third-party voters just on Jez, and it’s not just on Jez) so I’ve had a lot of practice explaining how it works!

I tried to explain the problem with “imagine this is Myanmar, and the general population gets a vote to decide on the rights of the Rohingya. That probably wouldn’t turn out great.... majorities should not be put in the position of deciding whether minorities are entitled to human rights.”

Seriously, I’m a triple citizen (Australian and Fijian from birth, US since 2012) and if there was even a tiny chance I could have citizenship of somewhere I’m interested in living/working in like the U.K. or an EU country or Cuba, I’d be all over it, I’d want to know so I could claim it!

Yes, yes, yes. What did they think would happen? “I’ll just privately fill out this form to express my opinion, tra-la-la?” No way. They knew the “no” movement would mobilize en masse to distort the debate, rely on the good old “slippery slope” argument to scare people, bring in unrelated issues (i.e. what or if or…

I should add, in the lower house (house of reps) you have districts of roughly the same number of constituents (we have some weird gerrymandering, but nothing like the US) so whoever wins the district wins the seat, and whoever wins the most seats forms the government. It’s not a direct “you got 75% of the vote so…

It could get even better... an outspoken Federal Tasmanian senator named Jacquie Lambie has just had to resign this morning after it was revealed she had dual citizenship (that’s disqualifying) and she’s starting to talk about a “Jacquie Lambie coalition” to try to become a “thing” in state politics in Tassie. We have…

It’s a win and we’ll take it, but the popular poll should never have happened in the first place... my loved ones don’t need to know the percentages of their communities that don’t believe they are equal.

I think you mean $7.60 per response? Which is still insane. But the stupidity that was this popular vote may have helped win it... I know some less-than-enlightened people who basically admitted “I’m voting yes because even though I don’t give a shit if gay people can get married, if we get this over with then the…