Gay Marriage

On February 1 the Federal Government will lift its ban on Australian same-sex partners receiving the documents they need to marry in other countries where same-sex marriage is allowed.

To her great credit, Attorney-General, Nicola Roxon, has asked the Department of Foreign Affairs to start issuing certificates of no-impediment to marriage (CNIs) to same-sex couples marrying overseas on the same basis as they are now issued to heterosexual couples.

A CNI is required by many foreign governments as proof the foreigner who wants to marry in their country is of marriageable age and isn’t already married where they come from. 

Continue reading "Cruel treatment of ‘marriage refugees’ to end" »

Margaret Court has been, well, courting controversy these past weeks. The former world no.1 tennis star, turned pastor, has raised the ire of many with a volley of comments labelling homosexuality a sin. Earlier this week the tennis great wrote in The Herald Sun: “Australia is in a steep moral decline”, “especially when it comes to the issue of sexuality”.

Outraged gay rights supporters have returned serve. They’re pushing for the Margaret Court Arena at Melbourne Park to stripped of its name and they’ve been encouraging Australian Open attendees to drape themselves in rainbow in defiance.

The kerfuffle is sure making a racket, but there’s something else at fault here. Since when were places named after people while they were alive anyway? Isn’t the whole point of naming a place after someone to commemorate the life and achievements of a person, you know, after they’ve died?

Continue reading "You’re courting disaster naming places after the living" »

“Opinions are like orgasms: mine matters most, and I don’t care if you have one.”

I’m not sure where I first read this, but it seems to typify public debate in Australia, where opposing parties love to discredit an argument by giving it a label: racist, sexist, chauvinist, insensitive, homophobe, ignorant…

In philosophy classes, this type of argument was called an ad hominem, and it’s only reward was an F, but in public debate it’s a timesaver, a cheap political point. Remember when Bill Heffernan questioned Gillard’s leadership because she was “deliberately barren”? Same deal.

Continue reading "The biggest bigots are the buggers who blame bigotry" »

On Wednesday, Iowa voters were the first in the union to ink their index finger, so to speak, handing Mitt Romney a win with one of the barest margins in recent history - just eight votes - but for all intents giving Rick Santorum the decisive moral victory.

Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry rounded out the top five. A mediocre cache of candidates in 2012 for sure, but in a lot of ways that makes it all the more frightening, mainly (but not exclusively) for gays in America.

Some 60,000 people caucused for Romney and Santorum; the difference between the two was less than half a Duggar family. That’s the family famous for 19 Kids and Counting, the reality series about evangelical Christians Jim Bob (yes, really) and Michelle Duggar and their brood of nineteen children (yes, really really). Twelve Duggar children travelled to Iowa to support Rick Santorum, trumpeting his socially conservative religious views.

Continue reading "The GOP, God, guns and gays" »

Marriage equality is too serious an issue to play political games with and too important an issue to be set up to fail. This is why supporters of the reform want calm heads to prevail and for the bill to be introduced at the right time.

It’s important the Labor Party approaches this reform strategically and doesn’t jump the gun. Too many people within Labor have worked too hard to change the ALP’s policy platform for it all to be squandered on a premature vote.

Because the ALP has allowed a conscience vote for its MPs, reform has very little chance unless the Coalition allows a conscience vote too. Coalition leader Tony Abbott has so far ruled out a conscience vote, but there is growing support within the Coalition for a different, fairer approach.

Continue reading "Give the Coalition time and they’ll vote for gay marriage" »

Prime Minister Gillard’s reshuffle tops off her year of living dangerously.

She went out on a limb with carbon pricing, pokie reform, plain tobacco packaging and increased superannuation in spite of spirited opposition and has won the battle, if not hearts and minds, on most of them.

Poker machine reform is outstanding and continues to bite the ALP hard, especially in the eastern states and in communities dependent on local pubs and clubs. Ms Gillard’s decision to sacrifice the Speaker role is her way of gearing up for the pokies fight by mitigating the influence of Andrew Wilkie.

Continue reading "Gillard reshuffles the deck chairs without conscience" »

Every so often you get to witness the laws in the culture you live in take a creaky step, tortoise-like, towards catching up with the hare that is our fast-evolving collective value system; in this case, the move towards recognising gay marriage.

For the gay community, and for the forward-thinking among the rest of us, it’s great to think we will probably no longer discriminate in granting of the legal rights and status of marriage. Like millions of other Aussies, I’m all for equality.

But the first question that springs to mind in 2011 is what, exactly, have gays won the right to? What on earth does “marriage” mean right now? And is it possible that even before homosexuals have the right to partake of it, us matrimonially-elastic and readily-divorcing straights have left the marital meringue out in the rain?

Continue reading "Good luck gays, us straight people have ruined marriage" »

It says a lot about changing community standards that a state such as Queensland, which under Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen was every civil libertarian’s nightmare, has this week voted to recognise same-sex unions.

Or does it?

It could show that the Queensland Parliament has responded to majority community sentiment in support of gay marriage. Or it could just show that the Queensland Parliament is now home to a majority of MPs who support gay marriage.

Continue reading "Gay marriage: there’s nothing easy about “I do”" »

John Howard said it helped MPs “reflect upon their experiences, values”. Kim Beazley said it was “a wonderful thing” to do. The late John Button said, “Let the winds of principle blow through the House.”

They were talking about exercising a parliamentary conscience vote and were so enthusiastic for it you would imagine conscience votes happen all the time.

But they don’t, for reasons shared by leaders of all major parties. In fact they are rare. By my calculation there were 30 conscience votes in Federal Parliament between 1955 and now. (The always-splendid Parliamentary Library has this research paper.) Prime Minister Julia Gillard wants to make that tally 31 by tomorrow, asking the ALP national conference in Sydney for a conscience vote on gay marriage.

Continue reading "Conference turns to conscience on conjugality" »

The Age reported this morning that former Tasmanian premier David Bartlett has called on the Labor Party to overturn marriage laws that prevent gay marriage, even by Australians in countries where same-sex marriages are legal. The call came after Bartlett’s half-sister, Angela Borella, was prevented from marrying her partner in Portugal. Here, Angela tells her story.

I met her earlier this year in Indonesia. She is Portuguese. I am Australian. We knew after ten days that we never wanted to be apart, so when my medical volunteer contract ended in Indonesia six weeks later, I flew to Portugal to be with her and we now live in Lisbon.

She is the most kind, caring and beautiful person I have ever met. It is like we’ve always known each other. She knows me better than I know myself.

I’ve never felt so loved in my entire years. I would give everything I have for her happiness. She makes me feel complete and whole.

Continue reading "The piece of paper between me and happiness" »

There is a strong connection between gays and lesbians having the choice to marry and significantly improving their mental and physical health.

The link has been highlighted by the American Psychological Association which recently issued a statement citing the growing number of studies into marriage and the mental health of same-sex attracted people.

According to the statement, which was unanimously endorsed by the APA’s governing body, denying same-sex attracted people the right to marry:

a) excludes them from the many health benefits of marriage,
b) reinforces “minority stigma” against them and their families, and
c) may reduce the longevity of their relationships.

Continue reading "Why gay people are less healthy and how to fix it" »

In a move shocking to precisely no one, Kim Kardashian, reality TV queen, perennial gossip magazine cover girl and not much else, announced yesterday that she and her husband of 72 days had filed for divorce.

From start to rapid finish Kardashian’s marriage was an exercise in attention and money-seeking.

E! paid the couple $15 million for the television rights to their wedding special show, while People magazine coughed up close to $3 million for wedding and engagement related rights. The guests were treated to a $20,000 wedding cake.

Continue reading "Keeping up with the Kar Krash of a sham marriage" »

It is our human relationships that give meaning to our existence. They make the joys of life joyous and the sadness in life sad. The sharing of experiences provides our context, the reference point for our hopes, our travails, our daily endeavours.

Our interrelationships define our society, inspire our creativity. Democracy and art are both functions of the truth that we do not live alone. For many of us this communitarian conviction lies at the core of our politics.

Human relationships haven’t much changed for hundreds of years. Despite the wishes or ignorance of some – whether blissful or baleful – humans have been loving each other in many different ways for centuries.

Continue reading "Human relationships are a many splendored thing" »

If we ever needed proof that politicians should respectfully butt out of moral issues like gay marriage, we got it this week in South Australia.

On Monday – the same day we learnt that the number of Australian households with mum, dad and kids is set to plummet to just 22 per cent within 15 years – outgoing Premier Mike Rann said the time for same-sex marriage had arrived.

So, after effectively putting the issue in the too-hard basket for almost a decade as premier and also during a stint as Labor’s national president, Mr Rann has a rainbow epiphany on the eve of his departure.

Continue reading "No kidding, gay couples make great parents" »

Dear Jim,

Re: Welcome to the ‘Homosexual Lobby’ and today’s vote on same-sex marriage in Tasmania. 

UPDATE: The historic motion backing same-sex marriage has been passed by the Tasmanian House of Assembly, the Mercury reports.

Over the past few months you have either said, tweeted or endorsed the following: “Anzacs didn’t die for gay marriage”, “the global gay Gestapo…is brainwashing people”, “gay marriage will disrupt the natural order”, “gay marriage will lead to paedophiles marrying children”, and of course you came to Miranda Devine’s defence when she linked the London riots to Senator Penny Wong and her partner expecting a child.

Continue reading "Hey Jim Wallace, they’re not devils down in Tassie" »

If you’re like me, you’ve been wondering with trepidation what will happen when the Gaypocalypse finally strikes.

Are fudge-packers, nancy-boys, and pillow-biters all names for the same thing, or do they signify a hierarchy of types and sizes, like orcs? Which are most dangerous? And where do the Poohole Pirates come in? Are they like the Men of Harad?

What about elephants? Will there be elephants? Will they be pink? Will we be forced to toil in underground sequin mines while Freddy Mercury lashes us with moustachioed falsetto arpeggios? And dear God, why didn’t we listen to Fred Nile?

Continue reading "Logic eats the gay marriage scaremongers for breakfast" »

Journalism, as they say, is the first draft of history. This week Julia Gillard defended journalism and history might just reward her as a result.

On Monday, The Daily Telegraph splashed with what can only be modestly described as a ball-tearing yarn about some appalling alleged behaviour by repeat troublemaker Craig Thomson.

Not content with having approved thousands of dollars spent on hookers during his time as a union boss, nor the alleged misuse of union funds during his election campaign, nor even the use of ALP members’ money to pay his lawyers to bail him out, Thomson is accused of blowing up at a female charity worker who happened to be MC’ing a forum on the controversial pokies cap.

Continue reading "Hey Labor, make history not beef stroganoff" »

Most people won’t even register that there is something different about this year’s census, but I will be cracking open the champagne and waving a flag. A big, bright, rainbow flag.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics gets a gong this week for being the first government department to recognise my overseas same-sex marriage to my partner, Sarah.

One small tick for the box, one giant tick for the ABS.

Continue reading "Holds hands and be counted" »

What’s more cruel and unusual? Banning same-sex couples from getting hitched or pressuring them to do it at warp speeds (thereby depriving them of the lengthy fights over floral arrangements and weird chair furniture that are the birthright of every straight dyad)?

When gay marriage became legal in New York last weekend, the race was on for queer twosomes to make honest gays and lesbians of themselves.

It was a case of on your marks, get set, MARRY.

Continue reading "Supporting gay marriage just makes cents" »

This week in New York the hottest ticket in town is not the latest Broadway musical or the opening of hip new restaurant, it’s the Marriage Bureau. So many same-sex couples have been waiting for the day when they can say “I do” that a lottery system has had to be introduced to deal with the amount of weddings set to take place.

This marriage boom is much needed in a state that has 50,000 divorces a year, almost 1000 a week! The gays will be combating this figure over the coming months with thousands upon thousands of loving and committed couples set to legalise their love.

Marriage is an institution that so many straight couples have taken for granted for so long, and it is now being strengthened by the same-sex couples who fought to be a part of it.

Continue reading "They’re getting hitched in the city that never sleeps" »

There are some very odd bedfellows in the anti-gay-marriage camp. Like, for example, conservative Christians and gay libertarians. The former think that gays will wreck marriage, the latter that marriage will wreck gays.

The first argument goes like this: marriage was made by God to unite men and women. Gay marriage will debase that institution, stripping it of its sacred meaning.

The same argument, couched in more secular terms, is offered just as often by people who say they are against discrimination, except when it comes to marriage because… and then insert whatever spurious, depressingly legalistic, horribly thin argument you choose…

Continue reading "Those big fat gay weddings will be well worth crashing" »

What with New York legislating same-sex marriage, and Labor state conferences toppling like dominos, it appears that same-sex marriage activists have adopted a new tack: “momentum rhetoric”.

The most blatant momentum rhetoric sprang up around the recent Galaxy Poll, wherein 75 per cent of respondents agreed that same-sex marriage is inevitable in Australia.

It was an odd poll - more Nostradamus than Aquinas - on what really is a complicated political and moral issue. No engagement with the issue itself, just speculation as to where we might end up.

Continue reading "There’s a good reason marriage is a hetero thing" »

The scenes outside the Stonewall Inn after the announcement that the New York Senate had passed the legislation to enable marriage equality could have not been more different to the riot that gave Stonewall its reputation as the epicentre of the gay rights movement back on 27 June 1969.

Jubilation, tears of joy and relief, marriage proposals, the crowd spontaneously breaking into choruses of “New York, New York”. Watching it on Twitter and YouTube provided a sense of immediacy, but I have never before wanted so much to be there in New York City to experience first hand such a moment in history.

Back in Australia, and ironically, this weekend yet another ALP State conference defied the bloody-minded rhetoric of its Federal leader to vote in support of marriage equality.

Continue reading "NY gay marriage vote: I wanna be a part of it" »

“This is a vote that is not about morality, that is not about religion. You can’t legislate morality, but you can legislate justice.”

The words of Senator Eric Schneiderman, New York Attorney General, are a poetic reminder of why the New York Senate passed legislation allowing same-sex couples to marry. On Friday, New York became the sixth state in the US to remove discrimination in marriage laws, joining Iowa, Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut and New Hampshire.

This decision comes amidst a range of local and international moves in the past month to recognise the civil rights of sexual and gender minorities. In a historic move, the majority of countries in the United Nations Human Rights Council passed a resolution condemning violence and discrimination against people on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

Continue reading "When it comes to marriage, justice should be apolitical" »

My name is Sandy and I am a fiancée, mother, friend, and primary school teacher.

My gorgeous fiancée of two years, Louise, is an ex-nurse who now works as a medical equipment consultant to hospitals. We have two beautiful boys from my previous marriage – aged 11 and 9.

We are a loving and close family, just like any other. Except in one way: my partner and I are both women so under Australian law, cannot marry. Many people do not regard us as a family.

Continue reading "When I go to dinner with the Prime Minister…" »

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.

Continue reading "Kids with two Mums are Weet-Bix kids too" »

Love makes a marriage, even a Royal one. This is the simple and powerful message of the upcoming wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, one that’s relevant to Australia’s same-sex marriage debate.

Once royal weddings were about dynastic alliances. That began to change in the twentieth century, but still there were limits on who a royal married, famously illustrated by the abdication of Edward VIII to marry a divorcee.

As recently as the marriage of William’s father, Charles, to Lady Di, it was inconceivable that an heir to the throne would marry outside the aristocracy or have a relationship with his fiancé prior to the wedding.

Continue reading "Even the Windsors recognise same-sex marriage" »

This week, Facebook pages have been brimming over with pictures of same-sex couples kissing. The pictures are a protest against Facebook because a photo (actually a still from EastEnders) of two blokes having a pash was removed.

Facebook have now apologised, saying the removal was a mistake (check out the exclusive news.com.au story here). Maybe it was, but people are right to be cynical when discrimination against gay people is still seen as OK by many sections of society.

Growing up, there were some things I couldn’t get my head around. Differential equations were one, homophobia was another.

Continue reading "It started with a kiss: Gay protests in your Facebook" »

Hi, gay people! How’s it going? Don’t tell me… just super, right? That’s what you people say isn’t it? Not that I would know, not being gay and all.

I’m sorry if that sounded like an odd thing to say. I don’t normally declare my sexual persuasion so abruptly. But I’ve heard you like to convert normal people with your gay agendas and your corrupting lifestyle choices, and since I’m being so open and friendly I didn’t want you getting any funny ideas about recruiting me.

I also heard that gays are pretty upfront and brash most of the time, so I’m pretty sure you’ll appreciate the candour. Just so long as you promise not to get turned on by it. Unless of course you happen to be lesbians. But only the hot ones that look like normal women.

Continue reading "An open letter to gay people (and Barry Cohen)" »

What a week it has been for the Prime Minister of our nation, Our Lady of the Lodge, the Very Reverend Julia “Traditional Values” Gillard.

Let me get this “straight”…if you’ll pardon the expression.  Our first female Prime Minister, an atheist living in a de facto relationship, claims to be a traditionalist with a conservative upbringing. 

We are exhorted to go back to Bible stories to understand why marriage equality doesn’t fit with Australia’s cultural heritage because we have to see where we have come from.

Continue reading "The Very Reverend Julia “Traditional Values” Gillard" »

There are two key questions around the issue of gay marriage. One is the pretty straight forward question of whether you support it or not, and the polls suggest it is line ball.

The other question is whether you support the idea of politicians keeping their promises. I haven’t seen the polling on that but I would presume that no research firm has bothered to do any, as you would expect about 100 per cent of people to answer yes, politicians should obviously keep their promises, what a silly question to ask.

Having gone to the last election saying there would be no carbon tax under a government she leads, Julia Gillard will now be introducing one on July 1 next year. It’s a serious breach of voter confidence and one which has done her serious political damage.

Continue reading "Gay marriage: can Julia afford another backflip?" »

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has been confronted by concerned members of the Labor Right over legislation that would restrict the ability of the Commonwealth to overturn territory laws.

Their fear is that it would allow the territories to introduce their own laws on same-sex marriage and euthanasia, and the Prime Minister has been forced to delay her support for the bill.  Wayne Swan this morning has said the concerns are “legitimate.”  It’s a statement of the obvious that Julia Gillard is squeezed from the left by her coalition with the Greens, and from the right by the Labor party’s right wing concerned it will lose touch with increasingly angry base.

Perhaps what is less clear is what the territories’ legislation will actually allow.  Legally it doesn’t actually allow gay marriage or euthanasia, but there is a divergence between legal and political realities which would open up the door to their legalisation.

Continue reading "Gillard’s gay marriage and euthanasia minefield" »

If gay marriage is too controversial for some federal politicians to handle – with entrenched positions on both sides – why don’t we do what political pragmatists are taught to do, and compromise? Say, with civil unions?

After all – they have civil unions in the UK and NZ and many other countries. To conservatives you can argue that this gives the gays their relationship recognition but still keeps marriage exclusive to the heterosexual club.  And to the gays you can argue that it’s a huge step forward – they get their ‘weddings’ now and all the state recognition that goes with them … and that eventually society may feel relaxed enough to move to marriage … one day … down the track. 

Seems like the perfect solution for any politician who just wants this debate to go away.  Like Prime Minister Gillard for example.

Continue reading "Hey Julia, civil unions are no substitute for real marriage" »

It’s not entirely clear when the political momentum to consider allowing gay marriage in Australia suddenly became so noticeable. The Greens certainly helped pushed it along in Canberra with its Bill to compel MPs to consult their constituents on the topic over the summer break.

But for an issue that really doesn’t have the slightest impact on the vast majority of the population, the tide does seem to be heading in a direction that could leave the two major political parties stuck on a sandbar somewhere wondering how to get off. Maybe its a sign things are travelling better than we thought, what with everyone having time to think about a social issue beyond their hip pockets.

According to a huge poll reported on News.com.au this morning, two thirds of Australians have no problem with gay marriage. Of the 150,000 people who took part nationally, 46 per cent were in favour, 35 per cent were opposed and 19 per cent couldn’t care either way. This is good news for the gay marriage lobby, but there’s a big catch.

Continue reading "The handful of seats dictating the political agenda" »

The Gillard Government’s love nest with a fragmented bunch of Greens and independents has been barely consummated before it faces its first big lovers’ row.

The dispute over the recognition of gay marriage is not an easy issue to handle for a Government trying to project unity and conciliation.

Contrary to the post-election happy snaps of MPs giving each other group hugs, vowing to show a spirit of respect and solidarity, there’s nothing unifying about gay marriage.

Continue reading "Online nation divided over gay marriage" »

People are doing it under the Golden Arches, underwater, in the nude and in Nazi uniforms.

They get hitched in all manner of ways and the water-cooler conversations this week have been dominated by nuptials of all sorts.

There’s the couple renewing their vows at McDonalds. Would you like a Happily Ever After meal with that?

Continue reading "Are weddings getting weirder?" »

“We want what they’ve got” is not a valid argument for gay marriage.

I have to agree with Professor Kerryn Phelps that the quality of debate over same-sex marriage is depressingly tepid.

But to be fair, it’s not just the defenders of traditional marriage who exhibit a lack of intellectual rigour in mounting their case.

Continue reading "Marriage: Not for gays, and maybe not for anyone?" »

Watching the debate over the merits of gay marriage, I feel like I am watching a scene from the movie “The Castle” where the totally underprepared solicitor for the plaintiff gives as his sole argument: “It’s the vibe”. 

That pretty much sums up the quality of the arguments being put forward by those opposing marriage equality. While supporters of gay marriage have abundant and cogent arguments about why it is right and fair, its opponents have nothing more to offer than “I don’t like it” or “that’s what the Marriage Act says”. They put forward no justification because there is no justification.

The Marriage Act says that marriage is between a man and a woman because John Howard changed the wording as recently as 2004.

Continue reading "“It’s the vibe” is not a valid argument against gay rights" »

Gay marriage is supported by a majority of Australians. At least that’s what the few published opinion polls on the issue would suggest.

The most recent poll, in October of this year, was commissioned by a pro-gay marriage lobby group called Australian Marriage Equality. But it was conducted by the independent polling firm Galaxy, which since 2004 has one of the best records at picking federal and state election results. With a solid sample of 1050 respondents, the Galaxy survey found that 62 per cent of Australians did not have a problem with the idea of same-sex marriage.

The result was in keeping with other recent polls which have shown either a narrow or comfortable majority of people supports gay marriage. A different question, however, is whether people wanted the Gillard Government to act as a matter of urgency to legalise gay marriage.

Continue reading "Besieged Gillard can’t afford to act on gay marriage" »

Few have succeeded in defending the seemingly indefensible; O.J Simpson’s attorney being a notable exception. Yet I will attempt to make a defence for Wendy Francis, Queensland’s much maligned Senate candidate for Family First.

At the outset – a disclosure. Francis has used my PR company in the past for strategic advice (don’t laugh – I already know what you are thinking) and I assisted her from a media perspective in her campaign to “make the outdoors G-rated” a few months back.

That said, this article is not being written for her, nor does she have any knowledge of it. I am merely adding my perspective to bring some sense of balance and understanding to what has been an extremely one-sided, and in some ways unfair, reaction.

Continue reading "Gay marriage row: in defence of Wendy Francis" »

Wendy Francis is the Family First Senate Candidate in Queensland who caused outrage at the weekend when some highly offensive claims about homosexual couples were posted on her Twitter page.

The @Wendy4Senate account, which displays all outward signs of being the work of the candidate herself, included this doozy: “Legitimising gay marriage is like legalising child abuse,” were posted, with no indication they were written by anyone but Francis.

In the face of national criticism, Francis yesterday put out a statement that was part apology, part claim of media victimhood and part a dump on her own staff.

Continue reading "Blaming your staff makes you the Twit, not them" »

I’m relatively proud of what I’ve achieved professionally and personally. I wrote a letter of complaint that got me a new washing machine and a new career; I got the word ‘existential’ on the letters pages of The Daily Telegraph, got to ride in the Queensland and Federal Governments jets and I saved the government $10million in one afternoon.

This was all before I discovered nominative determinism. Today’s name is Gai Lemon, a woman featured in an article in the Q Weekend in The Courier Mail about 20 years of Gay Rights in Queensland.

Which brings me to my point. There is one thing I’m not so proud of and that is my part in the amendments to the Marriage Act.

Continue reading "It’s understandable Gillard doesn’t get it on gay marriage" »

I know many of you would assume after my glowing endorsement of Ms Gillard and the opportunity she represents to shape a more inclusive socio-political culture that I’d be the first to denounce her opposition to gay marriage. Well, you’d be wrong.

In fact, I don’t consider the ‘right’ to marry part of any socially progressive agenda and so I say Julia is correct on this issue, but for the wrong reasons.

I guess I’ve always had a romantic, almost Wildean view of homosexuals as somehow more evolved than the rest of us. We all know deep down that stereotypes are true. So you know I’m right when I say that most gays are inherently more civilized and cultured, and are generally superior citizens than the rest of us.

Continue reading "The PM shouldn’t back gay (or any) marriage" »

Is all love really equal? Marriage is defined in the Marriage Act as the ‘union between a man and woman’. While sadly this legal definition has much conservative political support, it is surprising to discover that our newly appointed Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, shares such a sentiment.

As a heterosexual woman she exercised a choice not to marry, yet she denies these very same choices to gay or lesbian Australians.

Part of the problem with Prime Minister Gillard’s statement on marriage, is that it implicitly conflates secular and religious approaches to marriage. Civil marriages, those performed by the state, are a secular option for couples to formalise their relationship. In 2007, 63% of all marriages were solemnised by a civil celebrant rather than a religious minister.

Continue reading "New PM, same old stance on gay marriage" »

Julia Gillard agreed to a surprise interview with controversial radio hosts Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O this morning, where she refused to make any changes to the governments ban on gay marriage. The Punch listened to the interview and reports back on how it unfolded.

I didn’t want to like them, but there was a lot of laughter in the studios of Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O this morning, as they tackled their first interview with Julia Gillard.

And while I’m yet to be convinced that Sandilands should take his comparison to a “slimmer”, “funnier” Alan Jones too seriously, the easy banter and free flow of questions between themselves, the Prime Minister and listeners calling in, was a good example of what shows like theirs can achieve.

Continue reading "Julia’s (non) gay old time with Kyle and Jackie O" »

Thursday was not a good day to be gay.

In Sydney, the ever ridiculous NSW Labor government rejected an Upper House committee’s recommendation that same-sex couples be allowed to adopt.

Chair of the six-person bipartisan committee, Christine Robertson, said allowing gay couples to adopt would “ensure the best interests of children.”

Continue reading "Discrimination is driving the gay marriage debate" »

The fight for gay marriage in the US took yet another blow last Wednesday when the New York state senate voted down a bill that would have allowed same-sex partners to marry in the empire state.

It follows the repeal of gay marriage rights in California last November when voters in a referendum abolished a short-lived law that allowed gay couples to marry there.

The Governator’s state constitution now reads: “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.

Continue reading "What’s good enough for Tiger…" »

Welcome to Wednesday @ The Punch

Today in 2004 Canada’s Supreme Court ruled same-sex marriage constitutional, paving the way for it’s Parliament to legalise the practice.

Marriage equality is often portrayed as being an agenda of those who oppose the Christian faith and despise heterosexual marriage.

But as a married, heterosexual, evangelical Christian pastor and theologian I support the legislative amendment to allow same-sex couples the right to formalise their commitments in the legally-recognised covenant of marriage.

Privileging one theology over another

While personally I would gladly conduct and bless same-sex weddings, some of my evangelical brothers and sisters who cannot go that far still support this legislative amendment.

Continue reading "Why I changed my mind about same-sex marriage" »

You wouldn’t believe what goes on after dark at Sydney’s picturesque Taronga Zoo. This has just come across The Punch’s desk and we couldn’t resist sharing it with you.

Australian Marriage Equality and New Mardi Gras have co-oped the critters at Taronga Zoo into next year’s Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.

For $250 a head “guests will enjoy exclusive after-hours access to the Zoo, a private viewing of the famous bird show, meet some of the Zoo’s most exotic residents and learn about the animals and their homosexual activities.”

Continue reading "Breaking news: Taronga Zoo animals join Mardi Gras" »

The present political consensus among the major parties against permitting and recognising same sex marriages is so obviously an intellectual surrender to the religious right that one looks for a single phrase rhetorical demolition of this anti-gay pretence of a position that would show it in all of its hypocrisy.

I do not, for a moment, believe that those politicians (including speakers at the recent Labor Party National Conference) who go on about protecting the “sanctity of marriage” believe the nonsense they espouse. I also fail to believe that they believe that a majority of the Australian people support the continued refusal to recognise single sex marriages.

I believe that the political imperative is to avoid the anger of that noisy minority, the religious right, which, itself, is hardly representative of most people of a religious persuasion in Australia. The political imperative also concerns the possible swing vote of the Family First in the Senate.

Continue reading "The ‘sanctity of marriage’ argument is nonsense" »

When the delegates at the ALP National Conference sat down on Saturday to discuss the issue of same-sex marriage, there’s one question that should have loomed large in their minds: “Which side of history do you want to be on?”

Despite the result, same sex marriage is inevitable in Australia - and a quick analysis of two factors makes this blindingly obvious. The first is the international situation.  Seven countries have now introduced same-sex marriage, along will six states of the USA.  Just like so many other waves of social reform before it (giving women the vote, decriminalizing homosexuality, etc.) same-sex marriage will spread throughout the western, liberal democracies eventually reaching Australia.
 
The second factor that makes same-sex marriage inevitable is the demographics. 

Continue reading "Gay marriage - which side of history is Labor on?" »

Raised on a diet of Disney movies, contemporary society has become so besotted with the idea of heterosexual romance, marriage and weddings, we fail to see the people for the confetti and happily-ever-afters.

Caught up in a Hollywood version of what constitutes a legitimate union, we’re becoming exclusive, political and discriminatory and overlooking what should be a very basic human right: the right of the individual to form a loving, public and legal commitment to another person and have it civilly sanctioned regardless of sexuality.

I find it fascinating and more than a little bit perplexing, that when it comes to discussions of same-sex unions, those best positioned to provide compassion and understanding resort to straw polls, prejudicial language and silencing tactics to proclaim, yet again, the almighty significance of heterosexual unions. 

Continue reading "Marriage: Not that there’s anything wrong with that" »

David Penberthy and others on The Punch have written about the issue of gay marriage recently. His argument was, essentially, that there are lots of bad traditional marriages and there would be some good gay marriages therefore we shouldn’t be worried about gay marriage.

While a lot of people may agree and leaving aside the fact that there would also be a lot of bad gay marriages, it’s not particularly good logic. It fails to discuss the nature of marriage and its purpose.

Is marriage perfect? Of course not. But mere imperfection of itself is not an argument for its removal or significant change.

Continue reading "There’s no logical reason to allow gay marriage" »

On Friday, 5th of June this year, my partner Beck and I were married in Vancouver, Canada. However, since arriving home in Australia, our marriage is no longer recognised, and this has brought significant sadness to our lives, and also to our families who were unable to travel to Vancouver to be with us on our special day. 

Beck and I are now in the bizarre predicament, that we are married in a growing number of countries in the world, but not married here in our own country.

Some people find this funny, saying we have the ‘best of both worlds’ we can get on a plane and be married one day, and get off a plane and be free of the ‘ball and chain’ the next. But this situation is far from funny to us. It is heartbreaking because we want to be married all the time, not just in certain parts of the world.

Continue reading "We’ve had the wedding. Why doesn’t our marriage count?" »

Can you believe that in 2009 we don’t allow same-sex couples to get married? It happens in countries all around the world. Not just where’d you expect like Holland and Sweden. But places like Spain and South Africa. It makes Australia look a little behind.

We all have gay mates or rellies who pay their taxes and live by the law.

But when it comes to one of the most important moments of your life - your wedding day - the law says gays are suddenly so different they’re not allowed to have one.

Continue reading "It’s time to allow gay marriage in Australia" »

The twin debates currently underway over marriage in Australia have at their core an arrogant and probably homophobic presumption that a miserable heterosexual marriage trumps a spectacularly happy fruity one.

Those who advocate the sanctity of marriage are unwittingly undermining the institution by arguing, on the one hand, that it should be harder for desperately unhappy couples to end their marriage, while also denying the wishes of couples who would be at their happiest if they were allowed to get married.

As a married person of some years, the whole issue leaves me cold, as marriage is the best example of an intensely private arrangement which is subjected to a raft of presumptuous external rules.

Continue reading "In defence of gay marriages, and ending bad straight ones" »