‘Think of the children’: ACL and AME live debate

‘Think of the children’: ACL and AME live debate

CHILDREN were the main point of contention in a live marriage equality debate between the Australian Christian Lobby’s Lyle Shelton and Australian Marriage Equality’s Tiernan Brady.

Though remarkably civil, the News.com.au hosted event painted two distinct perspectives on the matter.

“These are legally separate issues, first of all,” Brady said.

Brady emphatically repeated time-and-time again that legalising same-sex marriage was an issue that stood separate from surrogacy and adoption laws – which he saw as misdirection.

He drew on his experiences during the Irish referendum to refute unrelated fears in the periphery.

“We see so many of these red herrings that have been raised and we see afterwards that they’re not true,” Brady said.

He argued Australians are ready for marriage equality and the opposition was complicating the issue.

Shelton’s argument reconciles the concept of marriage and children as one and the same.

“Children don’t get a say in this, whether they are brought into the world through commercial surrogacy and anonymous sperm donation,” Shelton said.

He stated that there were wide implications to the definition of marriage, referring to the gender diversity of the family structure and how every child is entitled to a mother and father.

They were then asked if they agreed that marriage laws only deal with children and not adoption.

“In a purer sense, yes, that’s true,” Shelton said.

Shelton believed it wasn’t that simple, though. He asked Brady if he would be happy with marriage equality without the children aspect.

Brady called this a dishonest question. He had previously discussed that LGBT folks were already raising children and that would continue to happen regardless.

The debate also discussed whether the plebiscite was required at all.

Brady detailed the key difference to the campaign in Ireland, a country that had to have a referendum – it was a legal requirement. Things were different in Australia. He argued in favour of a free vote.

“This is about real people who have to live through this debate about their lives,” Brady said.

He spoke about the damage that comes with being judged and having others decide if their relationship is somewhat lesser, saying that was a really hard thing to endure.

Shelton was emphatic that all Australians should have a say on the matter.

He also thought the marriage equality debate had been one-sided over the past decade, saying that Australia could dig a little deeper and allow both sides to speak without branding opponents bigots.

You can watch the whole debate here:

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One response to “‘Think of the children’: ACL and AME live debate”

  1. It is so easy for the ALP, Greens, Liberals – indeed any political party to say they will make Same Gender Marriage Law. Yes, all it takes is a change to the Australian Marriage Act and that can be done in seconds – as indeed it should be…BUT there is a Very Big Problem for them all: The Australian Senate – the Members of which in recent years have decided that they and they alone are the actual Government of Australia, when, in fact the Senate is supposed to be a “House of Review” to review Legislation passed by the House of Reps, amend it if they think it needs fine tuning, send it back to the House where they usually pass it and on return to the Senate the Senate passes it. That no longer applies. The Senate acts as if it is the Government. It simply refuses, for purely politically motives – to stop the Government of the day Governing.
    When those changes to the Australian Marriage Act it is very possible that for purely politically opportunistic reasons those controlling the Senate will block it. Paul Keating was 100% Right when he said “The Senate is Un-representative swill” That applied to all senators including those of the ALP’s