Gay Marriage
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.
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James says:
Ouch Paul, now you’ve hurt my feelings. I had no idea thinking that women are equal to men was such an awful thing. Lucky people like you are around to set us young-uns straight. Read more »
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DG says:
@Bec - No, I did not assume that your meaning was literal. Actually I thought quite the opposite. I understood that you were suggesting that the whole experience was tortuous when there was a concept of “fault” as both parties set out to prove that the other was at fault.… Read more »
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.
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Dan says:
Exactly T.Chong. All these people BAWWing as if legalising gay marriage will cause the world to end should really get over themselves. Unless you want to marry someone of the same gender as you, it won’t affect you in the slightest… Well, except that you might have to spring for… Read more »
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Chase Stevens says:
Human Rights in Canada > Human Rights in Australia Read more »
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" »
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Steve Robinson says:
Nathan: thankyou! Read more »
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Andrew Goff says:
@ Paul Horn “Can someone play God and explain to me why homosexuality seems to the moral equivalent to heterosexuality standing above all other forms of relationships? “ Sure, that’s easy. A relationship between two men or two women is consensual… I’m not sure how a dead person or an… Read more »
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" »
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Paul says:
To all those people going on about Robert Downey Jnr in Tropic Thunder and the movie White Chicks… please grow a brain and do some research on the racist connotations behind “blackface”. This is not the same as parodying women, gays, or other races. Think about it for a minute.… Read more »
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Voxpop says:
Eric “Voxpop, I think it’s not so much about homosexuality, as “any port in a storm”. Um yes that’s why I said “the bizzare or more accurately, opportunistic, were squid and octopus” these animals don’t see enough of the opposite sex so take it where they can get it. Though… Read more »
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" »
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alan says:
I’m not gay, but I’m willing to learn! Apparently 0.2 per cent of children born in Australia are hermaphrodite. I suggest it’s wrong to discriminate against them. They are human and still have rights regardless of how homophobic the rest of us might be. Read more »
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Alan says:
After reading through all these comments.. all I have in response is Wow.. Just wow. Now my standpoint I want to share. I went to a catholic primary school. And a catholic high school. I would definitly say I have christian values. You know what, I’m Gay. I didn’t choose… Read more »
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?" »
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Hopium says:
Ben - my marriage wasn’t religious. At all. I had it in a park. So does that mean, by your definition, that I am not married? It had no mention of “god”, but threw in some British comedy. Why can’t homosexuals have that? Read more »
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Chief says:
“All the people who say ‘marriage’ is not a religious instituion are simply wrong. If you want to get married in a church as thousands do or by a Minister of religion then its simply nuts to claim that marriage is not religious.” Marriage was first and foremost a secular,… Read more »
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" »
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Andy says:
No chase it ISNT, face that reality chump. Read more »
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Chase Stevens says:
@Krammer there’s no such thing as ‘reverse discrimination’. Saying ‘reverse discrimination’ means that whoever is comminting ‘reverse discrimination’ is doing the complete opposite of what discrimination is. While gay marriage may not become a reality in the near future, I’m happy to think that there are a lot of people… Read more »
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" »
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Summer Glau says:
Dear Radical, I found your argument interesting and hence I wish to make a response directly particularly at it. Firstly, “I think that the qualifier “gay” marriage is already something that makes it something other than marriage as we currently understand it”. You seem to not understand the point of… Read more »
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Radical says:
I think that the qualifier “gay” marriage is already something that makes it something other than marriage as we currently understand it. I am against gay marriage. And that is because after thinking about this debate I conclude that marriage if open to gays will need to be open to… Read more »
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?" »
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Hopium says:
I just got married. I’m not gay so mine is legally recognised. It was a secular celebration in a park. No church or religion involved. Once upon a time, you could not get married this way. I shed tears during the ceremony. Not for my beloved (we show love by… Read more »
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Bugalug says:
Bunny and Sal, I think the point is that saying “my friends say it’s OK/not OK” is not statistically valid, as groups of friends tend to self select people of similar views. Pointless statement both ways, and all my friends agree with that assessment. Read more »
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" »
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kjhukjjh says:
i’m 15, and i strongly agree that australia should allow gay marriage. anybody who argues any religious views on marriage dont seem to realize that many hetrosexual people get married when they are not religious at all, that point is totally invalid. anybody should have the right to express their… Read more »
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Greg McQueen says:
MarkH wrote: “Redaction, revisionism or the redefining of Marriage to include same sex couples utterly destroys the historic institution of Marriage.” No, it simply allows the concept of marriage to evolve. If you were to believe the stories in the bible, it says that the famous God-botherer Solomon had 700… Read more »
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" »
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Kieran says:
Do what you want, I don’t care. As homosexuals want marriage, not civil unions, may I suggest heterosexuals who want exclusivity just change from marriage to civil unions. Problem solved. Next problem. Read more »
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Steve says:
Krammar, your initiatl premise is a dictionary definition. Everything based on it is illogical - definitions can and do change. Read more »
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