There was a provincial election in Ontario yesterday. Kathleen Wynne, leader of the Liberal party (an actual liberal party, unlike the right-wing Liberals in Australia), is openly gay and was swept to power. Her sexuality was a non-issue throughout the election campaign, as it should be. This brings me hope.

However, listening to the news report this morning of the election, I was shocked to hear that voter turnout was only 52%. While this is a better turnout than the last election (which was below 50%), I’m staggered at how few people exercised their right to vote.

In Australia, voting is compulsory. Of course, if you don’t want to vote, you don’t have to but you’ll be given a fairly minimal fine. If you want to avoid the fine, you can go and donkey vote (which annoys me).

Excuse me while I rant a little bit but I think, considering how throughout history the right to vote has cost lives (and continues to cost lives in other countries around the world), to not vote is a bit of a slap in the face of everyone who fought for it.

If you’re not engaged with the political process, fair enough. It’s easy to feel disenfranchised when the major parties don’t resonate with your views. But how would you feel if you actually were disenfranchised and legally unable to vote?

If you don’t vote, I have very limited sympathy for your complaints about a government that does get into power. Don’t like what they’re doing? Vote. In some ways, it won’t mean much. In others, it’ll mean a lot.

I’m sure there are plenty of arguments against voting and I’m willing to hear them. But I doubt you’ll persuade me, like I’m sure I won’t be able to persuade non-voters to vote.

Meanwhile, Glen’s watching a compilation of old news reports on gay issues from the 80s. The way humans treat each other is just deplorable. In some ways we’ve come very far in a short space of time. In others, there’s still a long way to go. The video is below. It’s quite long (nearly an hour).