Page 2762 - Week 09 - Thursday, 8 August 2013
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keen to speak in favour of same-sex marriage, in favour of equal love, and about the Greens’ long and proud history of standing up for gay and lesbian Australians and advancing the equality campaign right across Australia and, indeed, across the world.
Marriage equality is about treating everyone fairly and with respect, regardless of their sexuality or their gender identity. It is about recognising the love felt between two people of the same sex, a love that is no less strong or real than love between two people of different sexes. It removes a structural discrimination in Australian society that is unjust and should not exist and that every day causes pain and heartache for thousands of Australians.
Since the Assembly last met, there has been another breakthrough in the global campaign for marriage equality, with Britain passing laws in July to allow same-sex couples to get married in England and Wales. The Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrat leadership all backed the government bill. This came exactly one month after French President Francois Hollande signed a bill legalising same-sex marriage.
Of course, we all remember the footage from New Zealand in April of its parliament spontaneously breaking into song after the vote, which made New Zealand the first country in the Asia-Pacific region and the 13th country worldwide to legalise same-sex marriage. Among the highlights was Greens’ MP Mojo Mathers who received a rousing applause after she told the house how her daughter went to her first formal with her girlfriend last year. She said:
Like countless other young women, she hopes for love, marriage, children and a house with a white picket fence. All of those options are available to her older sister. To see them have equal rights before the law is very important to me.
This evening in Sydney my federal and New South Wales colleagues are hosting the New Zealand Green Party co-leader, Metiria Turei, in an evening to celebrate the success of the marriage equality campaign in New Zealand. Same-sex marriage is now legal in Argentina, Belgium, Britain, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden and Uruguay, and same-sex marriage is also allowed in nine US states, Washington DC as well as parts of Brazil and Mexico.
As we all know, of course, despite the positive movement all around the globe, same-sex marriages are still not permitted in Australia. But there is a wave of support for marriage equality growing throughout Australia. Two out of three Australians now support marriage equality. Eighty per cent of young people support marriage equality. The majority of Christians support marriage equality. Four out of five Labor voters and a majority of conservative voters all support marriage equality.
I would like to acknowledge the positive comments already made by our newest member, Ms Lawder, in her inaugural speech this week. I was buoyed to hear her say that she believes in advancing the rights of Canberrans in the gay and lesbian community.
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