Same-sex parents are no different than other parents in wanting the very best for their children.
We know that removing legislative inequality is a very significant step in lessening the discrimination and social exclusion experienced by these parents and their children. All children, irrespective of the family units into which they are born or live, deserve the full protection of the law.
That’s why I’m proud to have chaired a year-long Social Development Committee Inquiry into same sex parenting for the South Australian Parliament, and why I’m prouder still of the wide-ranging reforms aimed at providing greater legal protection for children of same-sex parents recommended to Parliament yesterday.
The eight member multi-party Committee heard repeatedly that South Australia lags behind every other Australian state when it comes to protecting the rights of children born to same-sex parents.
Current South Australian law puts children born to same-sex parents in an unequal and unsatisfactory position when compared to children born to heterosexual parents.
This is an unacceptable situation that must be changed.
For those who may continue to argue that the current state of play is perfectly fine and requires no change, I pose the following questions:
• Is it fair for the law to deny a child the right to have their non-birth mother listed on their birth certificate when the law already recognises that biology is not a prerequisite for legal parenthood?
• Is it right that a child who is cared for and loved by two women in a committed long-term relationship is at risk of being taken away should the birth mother die?
• Is it right to deny a child their lived experience; deny them their truth; pretend that they do not have two parents who care for them and love them; pretend that they do not have two sets of extended families that have embraced them as an important and central part of their families?
• Is it right that same-sex couples can foster care some of the most vulnerable children in our community but are denied an opportunity to adopt?
Fundamentally, no child should be disadvantaged or discriminated against in any way because of how they were conceived.
The Committee heard no compelling evidence that children are disadvantaged by being raised by same-sex parents or that same-sex parents are unfit to look after children. On the contrary, evidence presented by same-sex parents suggests they strive for their children to be well-adjusted, productive members of our community.
The Committee has formed the view that how well children develop is largely influenced by the level of cohesion within a family and the support and care children receive rather than the particular formation that a family unit takes.
In addition, the Committee heard that there is no basis in any of the credible, peer-reviewed research to support the claim that same-sex parents are more likely than heterosexual parents to raise lesbian or gay children. Such claims were repeatedly put by those opposing same-sex parents. Their prevailing mantra: “homosexual parents will raise homosexual children”.
Of course, the underlying assumption of such concerns is that it is somehow wrong for a child to grow up gay or lesbian. It goes without saying that many of us find such views not only hurtful but also deeply offensive, and of course, quite without any basis in fact.
It saddens me greatly that successive governments have lacked the will to respond to this issue.
Discriminatory laws that serve only to disadvantage and further marginalise children born of same-sex relationships have no place in a caring and tolerant community.
The Committee recognises that removing legislative inequality against same-sex led families will not necessarily end the disapproval shown by some sections of the community towards these families. However, it will be a very significant and important step in lessening the discrimination and social exclusion experienced by these parents and their children.
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@ToryShepherd I hope that's in your piece tomorrow. Also - are you coming over this week or laaaaaater?
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