No movement on marriage push
The Federal Government has sidestepped questions on marriage law anomalies such as immigration of same-sex married couples and the recent case of a trans woman who remained legally married to her female partner.
Australian Marriage Equality put the questions to Attorney-General Robert McClelland during a human rights forum he hosted for non-government organisations in June this year, but the written response from the Department only outlined the marriage ban rationale.
The Government’s policy on marriage reflects the widely held view in the community that marriage is between a man and woman,. This in turn reflects the traditional view of marriage that has been built over many centuries, the response stated.
AME national secretary Alex Greenwich has since sought confirmation that the marriage ban would be overturned if it could be shown that the majority of Australians supported equal marriage.
We’re not surprised [by the response]. It seems that when you ask any Labor cabinet member a logical question about same-sex marriage they struggle to answer it, whether it be Anthony Albanese, Tanya Plibersek or the Attorney-General, Greenwich told Sydney Star Observer.
For the people within Labor who support same-sex marriage, like Louise Pratt, we want to help them point out to their colleagues the amount of support out there, and the benefit of same-sex marriage to the community as a whole.
He added that AME has been attempting to arrange a meeting with the Attorney-General since Labor won office, but has yet to be given a date.
The fact we were invited to the NGO forum on human rights and the fact our name is Australian Marriage Equality is an encouraging sign. Maybe they recognise it as a human right that hasn’t been respected during the Howard years.
Have your say: Should the Government have to give a logical explanation of its marriage policy?
I have to step in and defend Anthony Albanese.
I met him at a stall outside Marrickville Metro Shopping Centre at the last election and he would very dearly like to give us marriage.
In the above article, Alex Greenwich said that Anthony does not give straight answers. He gave me a very straight answer saying that he would support it – in fact he seemed very genuinely sorry and dissapointed that it had not been introduced. It did not seem acted – he was playing it straight and answered my questions at length.
I cannot speak for Tanya – as I don’t know her views on marriage.
Louise Pratt speaks very strongly for gay marraige – as anyone can see from reading her maiden speech to Parliament from Hansard – it is all there – she unequivocally and visibly supports marriage.
I cannot speak more highly for what the Labor Government have done this year with gay rights. They did not shift it into the “too hard” basket as the Howard Government had done for so very, very long.
I admit it is not everything, but I feel that finally we get to be treated as equals in everything except marriage.