Gay Marriage in Australia
Same-sex marriage has long been a contentious issue in Australia but now, with higher levels of public support than ever before, and a global push for marriage equality, it’s time for the debate to end, time for gay marriage to be accepted into Australian law, culture, and society.
Australia is a country where individuals are afforded the right to choose their own religion and their own philosophy of life, the right to choose their friends, associates and how they will express themselves, the right to choose where they will live and what occupation they will pursue. And yet, these rights are not extended to homosexuals, with government and other organisations not recognising family status between gay couples with or without children, nor extending the right of marriage to these otherwise perfectly normal, Australian citizens.
This is just wrong. I mean, think about it. Marriage is the ultimate demonstration of love between partners. By getting married you are saying, “Look world, look at us, the love we share, and will keep sharing, ‘till death do us part.” Why should this be restricted to traditional, heterosexual couples? Who are we, our politicians, anyone, to say that a gay couple can’t love each other like this, that they shouldn’t be allowed to express this love in such a way?
Not only should gay marriage be legalised for moral reasons, but allowing same-sex couples to share marriage rights will, like changes before it, strengthen the institution of marriage. As recently as 1967 in America, it was not legal for interracial marriages to occur. A white woman could not marry a black, or Asian man, and vice-versa.
Now, not even 50 years later, the notion of such a law seems ridiculous, as an anti-gay marriage law will no doubt seem 50 years from now.
In centuries past, marriage laws and regulations were even stricter, with marriage between different religious groups, and social castes frowned upon, or even forbidden. A middle class Catholic could
Australia is a country where individuals are afforded the right to choose their own religion and their own philosophy of life, the right to choose their friends, associates and how they will express themselves, the right to choose where they will live and what occupation they will pursue. And yet, these rights are not extended to homosexuals, with government and other organisations not recognising family status between gay couples with or without children, nor extending the right of marriage to these otherwise perfectly normal, Australian citizens.
This is just wrong. I mean, think about it. Marriage is the ultimate demonstration of love between partners. By getting married you are saying, “Look world, look at us, the love we share, and will keep sharing, ‘till death do us part.” Why should this be restricted to traditional, heterosexual couples? Who are we, our politicians, anyone, to say that a gay couple can’t love each other like this, that they shouldn’t be allowed to express this love in such a way?
Not only should gay marriage be legalised for moral reasons, but allowing same-sex couples to share marriage rights will, like changes before it, strengthen the institution of marriage. As recently as 1967 in America, it was not legal for interracial marriages to occur. A white woman could not marry a black, or Asian man, and vice-versa.
Now, not even 50 years later, the notion of such a law seems ridiculous, as an anti-gay marriage law will no doubt seem 50 years from now.
In centuries past, marriage laws and regulations were even stricter, with marriage between different religious groups, and social castes frowned upon, or even forbidden. A middle class Catholic could