Chris Baguley: "We are normal people looking to do normal things with our lives"

For Raymond Terrace’s Chris Baguley, who has been involved in a number of community events for the “yes” movement over the past few months, it’s so much more than the tick.

It’s the chance to finally have security in his relationship, to find acceptance in the community and to find the bright in all of the debate’s ugliness.

“Changing hearts and minds comes from showing people on both sides that we are normal people looking to do normal things with our lives,” Mr Baguley said of the same-sex marriage debate.

“Recently I sent out around 250 letters to all of my neighbours and people close to me, telling them about who I was and who my family were and inviting them to a barbecue at my house to discuss it all and I didn’t ask them to vote one way or another but I just wanted to share my story.

“If you can show people that it’s just love, and that love is love, then hopefully they can see that there’s nothing else but that.”

Mr Baguley has been involved in a number of events to share the idea of community and love. Most recently he was part of a group of “yes” vote advocates that met with Australians For Equality director Tiernan Brady when he visited Newcastle on Wednesday.

They each shared their personal stories, and one message came through loud and clear – everyone is the same.

“These kind of gatherings are imperative, this is something that the equality campaign has done very well,” Mr Baguley said.

“It’s not about changing people’s minds, but it’s important to have these public celebrations. I felt I didn’t have a voice, and this campaign is giving people that voice. It’s showing people that are scared and to show that it gets better.”

During his visit Mr Brady reminded people to fill in their surveys and put them in the post as soon as possible.

“This about real people who live in our communities and love our communities,” he said. “They members of our family, they are our friends, they’re our neighbours and they just want to be treated the same.”