Australian man’s open letter to parents asking them to vote ‘Yes’ in equal marriage debate goes viral
By Joshua Haigh
Australian actor Barnaby Reiter has gone viral after sharing an open letter he wrote to his parents during Australia’s same-sex vote.
Reiter wrote the letter to his parents after they expressed interest in voting ‘No’ in the debate and, though the letter failed to change their minds, Reiter hopes it will support or inspire others to vote in the debate.
Reiter shared the letter on his Instagram page alongside the caption: “An open letter to my ‘No’ voting parents”.
The actor said that the Reiter family haven’t had an “easy time” because of the vote, and explained that he wanted to help anyone else feeling “similar in what has become a truly dark time in Australian history.”
In the letter, Reiter wrote: “I know you both care about me and you’ve both given me everything I could ever hope for – up to but not including the ability to feel safe and comfortable in my own skin in our home environment.”
“But. Please know that if you choose to tick the ‘no’ box you will not be invited to my wedding. You can’t have it both ways.”
He added: “When you read that question I don’t want you to see it as ‘Do you support changing the marriage act to include same-sex couples?’ I want it to really say ‘Will you be attending the inevitable wedding of your son and the man of his dreams/father of his children and their life thereafter?'”
Reiter then ended the letter by writing: “Choose carefully, because as you’ve always taught me: ‘Life is a series of choices.'”
More stories:
Daily Mail uses transgender man’s picture without permission in hateful anti-trans article
‘There was a time we could forgive Kevin Spacey for his silence – now he has betrayed us all’