Page 2906 - Week 08 - Thursday, 17 August 2017
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moves such legislation, although it was made clear by the High Court at that time that the responsibility for introducing equal marriage lies with the federal parliament.
It was with extreme dismay that we learnt about the non-compulsory postal survey to be undertaken. It is an unnecessary step, as Mr Steel so well outlined. We already know through poll after poll that the majority of the Australian population supports equal marriage. It is an expensive step and funds would be better directed to a myriad of other concerns, such as poverty and homelessness, domestic and family violence, welfare supports, addressing climate change or affordable housing.
It is also a harmful step. The postal survey is already generating heated debates on both sides of the argument, and I have no doubt that the occurrences and accusations of hate speech and homophobia will abound over the coming months. I fear for what the public debate will look like. For many people, such as me, the right to marry has never been or never will be questioned. We have no idea what it feels like to have your right to make a public and legal commitment to spend your life with the person you love made the subject of public debate.
I can tell you already that those around me whose marriage rights are being questioned and debated are hurting. Even the most robust and resilient of them are hurting. It is their lives that we are all taking about; not just any part of their lives but the part that matters most to them—the part about who they love and who they want to share their life with as husband or wife.
We have already seen evidence of harmful mistruths and spurious claims that same-sex marriage will result in stolen children, polygamy or even bestiality, but we know this is untrue. We are the last English-speaking country in the world to introduce equal marriage legislation—that is, of course, if and when we ever do so—and the sky has not fallen in in any of those other countries. The fabric of society has not deteriorated. There is no increase in or legal validity of bestiality or polygamy. This is just hate speech really.
For those who think that equal marriage will create children with same-sex parents, think again. These families already exist. The best thing we can do for these children is to legally recognise the bond their parents have, to legally recognise that their family is valid and legitimate. This is the best thing we can do for these kids—make sure that they are growing up in families that are recognised by the state, families that are afforded the same rights as heterosexual families.
There is no evidence to suggest that families growing up in same-sex headed households are in any way worse off. Research undertaken by the Australian Institute of Family Studies indicates that children in such families do as well emotionally, socially and educationally as their peers from heterosexual families. Some researchers have concluded, in fact, that there are benefits for children raised by lesbian couples in that they experience higher quality parenting, sons display greater gender flexibility, and sons and daughters display more open-mindedness towards sexual, gender and family diversity.
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