Love and marriage ... go together like a horse and carriage .....

Gay marriage has now been placed firmly on the political agenda in old Nu Zulun.

For many, gay and straight, it is a proposal whose time has come. Certainly, opinion polls place a sizable majority of Nu Zulundurs in favour.

No doubt, the main opposition will come from the religions groups who tend to use two key phrases to make their case: "Judeo-Christian heritage" and "traditional marriage".

Of course, the use of either phrase usually involves a revisionist history at best. The ideal of marriage in the current era is historically comparatively new.

Whether or not Nu Zulun has a Judeo-Christian heritage is the subject of debate. Even if we concede the country does have just a heritage, the Christian part of it bears some scrutiny.

The briefest survey of Church history leaves the the reader gobsmacked at the inhumanity wrought in the name of the founder.

This proposal for gay marriage will test whether we as a society have come of age.

I just hope that the many church leaders and ordinary thinking Christians who have sympathies for the proposal will come out of the closet and make a stand. It is in a sense a God-given opportunity.

However, I suspect the genuine fear of reprisals will deter them.

Strangely, it is no longer a time for gay people to be brave, but rather for the decent majority of Christian, religious, and non-religious Nu Zulundurs to send forth a message of love and acceptance.