Holly Throsby opens up about "brutal" same-sex marriage debate

The openly-gay Sydney singer-songwriter and author has previously written about same-sex marriage equality in a 2013 Sydney Morning Herald opinion piece where she expressed her desire to one day become legally wed.

A year later Throsby and her partner Zoe welcomed the birth of their daughter Alvy.

Despite feeling supported by her family and friends, Throsby says the barrage of misinformation circulated by the no campaign has worn her down.

“I’ve actually felt quite surprised by the impact its had both on me and my family, friends and the community around me,” Throsby says.

“Some people felt they were quite impervious to that kind of thing, like we feel good about ourselves and have moved on from schoolyard taunts or feelings of disapproval in your family or workplace.

“It has been quite brutal. No matter how confident you are within yourself, it’s really upsetting to hear the things people have been saying around the debate.”

In particular, Throsby has been upset by arguments stating that same-sex parents are damaging to children. 

“For someone like me, there’s people expressing very strong and negative views about my family and my daughter,” she says.

“To suggest she’s worse off, that kind of thing is really sad and what hurts the most for me as a mother. It’s very insulting. It does wear away at you and your feeling of everyday contentment.”

Away from the divisiveness of the marriage equality debate, Throsby has plenty of artistic endeavours to keep her occupied.

She’s two-thirds through the manuscript of her second novel. Throsby made her successful debut as an author in 2016 with Goodwood.

The second novel, slated for a late 2018 release, is set in the fictional town of Cedar Valley, which was mentioned in Goodwood.

“I have a pretty strong feeling about the ending, but getting there is kind of a puzzle,” Throsby says.

“I was doing a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle with my daughter this morning, which features many crocodiles and turtles and I thought to myself how similar that is to a novel.

“You have these narrative strands, and places and events happening and at the moment it’s about getting these puzzle pieces to fit together.

“I’m at about 60,000 words, so it’s at a heightened point, so I need to put it away until the end of November and hopefully then I can get all the puzzle pieces collected in that time.”

The reason why Throsby is putting the novel on the backburner until late November, is to return to music.

Earlier this year the 38-year-old indie-folk artist embarked on a tour for her sixth album About A Time, which included a delightful performance at Lizotte’s.

The tour was expected to be brief, before Throsby resumed work on her novel. However, the shows’ success and Sarah Blasko’s first solo tour inspired Throsby to launch another round of concerts.

“It was an extremely nostalgic feeling for me,” she says. “I think a part of that nostalgia was playing in venues I haven’t been to in years and because I had this new band and with a new record, which we played almost in its entirety every night.

“I only did two solo songs each night, so I thought to do a solo tour.

“I was on my Facebook page this morning asking if anyone had any requests, as I’m happy to learn a bunch of old songs I haven’t played in years.

“People have requested songs I never thought of to play, but I’m happy to do them otherwise I wasn’t sure what to play.”

Songs requested include Swing On from 2006’s Under The Town and And Then We’re Gone from 2008’s A Loud Call.

The process of relearning her older material has been nostalgic.

“By the time I’d finished an album I would have heard them thousands of times after you write, rehearse, record them and mix them,” she says.

“They’re so familiar and then there’s this gap and it’s like, I didn’t write that song.

“You get an interesting perspective because I very much remember what I was doing in my life and what those songs are about isn’t exactly what I thought they were about at the time.”

Holly Throsby performs solo at 48 Watt Street on November 4.