More than four years after neighbouring New Zealand’s Parliament passed an equal marriage law without incident, Australia’s Prime Minister is instead putting the issue to the people – and has unleashed a Pandora’s Box of anti-LGBT hate speech as the ‘No’ campaign kicks into gear.

What the hell is going on?

The answer involves a coup, more than one shadowy deal, and a lot of shameless political manoeuvring.

So what is happening?

The country’s current Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, has refused to put equal marriage to a vote of MPs in Parliament.

Instead he planning to hold a ‘postal vote’ on the issue, which is set to go forward at the end of September.

That’s like a referendum, right?

No.

Mr Turnbull is not seeking permission from Parliament to hold the postal vote, which means it’s likely going ahead without any legislation behind it.