Marriage battle showdown
The Greens have ramped up their push for same-sex marriage as the first, and only, public hearing for the Marriage Equality Amendment Bill Inquiry took place in Melbourne on Monday.
Greens leader Bob Brown and party spokeswoman for sexuality and gender identity Senator Sarah Hanson-Young launched a pro-gay marriage postcard campaign at Melbourne University a day earlier, pledging support for gay marriage ahead of next year’s federal election.
The postcard features a picture of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and another man arm-in-arm in front of a wedding cake with the words ‘Say I do, Mr Rudd…’ which the Greens will present to the PM.
“The majority of Australians think people should be able to marry who they want,” Hanson-Young said.
“This is not a gay issue, it’s a human rights issue. Although not all same-sex couples want to get married — just like not all opposite-sex couples want to get married — it should be their choice how they celebrate their love, not the government’s.”
Hanson-Young called on Rudd to allow MPs a conscience vote when the amendment bill goes through Parliament.
The bill has prompted a flurried response from the wider community with the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee receiving more than 20,000 submissions in around two months.
The committee confirmed on Monday that 16,752 emails were received against amending the Marriage Act to include same-sex couples, while only 8666 emails had been received for.
However, of those emails against, some 8906 were one-line statements opposing the bill because it would change the historic meaning of marriage.
The Australian Family Association’s submission stated marriage should be reserved for male-female couples only.
Sydney will hold a pro-gay marriage rally on November 28 — two days after the committee is due to hand down its report.
Well whatever they are Liberal or Labour.They need to just wake up and realise that we are living in the year 2009.Canada,Spain,South Africa,even f@ckin catholic south america etc etc etc have more advanced G+L rights that we do here.Its an absolute DISGRACE that Australia still lags behind these countries.
We may think we live in Mardi Gras heaven but we don’t.Wake up KEVIN RUDD and the LGBT organisations etc.NO we don’t all want to get married and adopt kids,but yes we want the right to.Please wheres my Virgin ticket to Toronto…
I think this is good because it gets Liberal, Labor, and hypocrite Penny Wong, to show they support discrimination against us. The discrimination against people who are homosexual and want to get married is only recent.
Historically, same sex marriages have been documented for pre-modern Europe (Boswell, 1995) and imperial China (Hinsch, 1990).
Today, seven countries and five American states have made same sex marriage legal, and more jurisdictions are sure to follow. I think we need to be asking ourselves some serious questions when South Africa has managed to move from ending apartheid in 1994 to legalising gay marriage in 2006, and a conservative nation such as Nepal is legislating to allow same sex marriage (Hindustan Times, 19 November 2008).
If you care about human rights at all then you should never vote Liberal or Labor. Only the Greens are trying to end the discrimination. Our Bible bashing Prime Minister has shown himself to be nothing but Evil. His lack of action to stop discrimination against us, shows he cares more for The Australian Christian Lobby and other Hate Groups then he does for us. Kevin Rudd is nothing but a Bible bashing corrupt Queensland politician. It is easy to see why his staff leave him after just a few months. They know he is a monster!
I would love to read a headline that quotes:
“Australia becomes the 10th nation to allow gay marriage”
Why 10th you all say to me?:
* Portugal will be the 8th in 2010 and Nepal will be 9th in 2010 as well.
I rang the good Senator’s office on Tuesday to be informed by Senator Baume tht Sen. Hanson-Young would contact me when she next attended her office. It’s Thursday and i haven’t heard a peep. We drove all the way to Canberra, as tourists; thought we’d make a contribution and received very little assistance from the good Senator’s colleague. Isn’t this supposed to be a grass roots human rights issue?