Rant time - Marriage Rights

I don't know if anyone will bother to read this, but I have to get it out and belatedly blast John Howard about his attititude to the idea of gay marriage.
Two months ago, when he made his proposal to ban it, the Labor party got all indecisive and put a little committee together to think it over.
During a speech at a Christian fund-raising dinner, John Howard had a go at the Labor party for this. He ridiculed them for taking time to think about it. According to him, banning gay marriage was simply 'common-sense', and no thought or debate was required.
I couldn't believe it. Here he was publicly admitting that he believes he already knows what rights gays ought to be entitled to. He didn't need to think about it or consult his conscience. He didn't need to discuss it with anyone or educate himself about the subject or look at all sides to the debate. And most definitely he didn't need to actually talk to any gay people about it. No, he can happily make decisions about our rights without consulting us or considering our point of view at all.
I know this is how he's behaved in the past with aborigines and refugees, so it's nothing new, but it was incredibly hurtful to have this attitude directed to a group I belong to. How dare he.
And it's frightening that the Australian public have just voted again for a man who thinks like this.