Dec 13, 2013
ACT same-sex couples were devastated by a High Court ruling on Thursday that invalidated their marriages after just a few days. But Canberra-based journalist Farz Edraki, who was at the Court, finds they are not giving up the fight.
“We’ll get there in the end!” a woman in rainbow vest cries outside the glass doors of the High Court, holding up her partner’s hand. They walk past a man with a white placard: “God’s word: Say No to Gay Marriage.” Their eyes meet for a brief split-second of quiet recognition.
It took less than 10 minutes yesterday for the High Court bench to deliver the judgement gay couples in Canberra had been dreading: the ACT’s same-sex laws are invalid.
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Until the federal marriage act recognises same sex marriage then the LGBTI community will always be vulnerable to party politics and hard line religious groups. So let’s stop trying to passing state laws and focus all energies on the end game.
We would have marriage equality for all Australians if the Labor party had not buried it. Holding a conscience vote they knew was doomed to fail(due to their own right wing), is just a way to vote ‘no’ without admitting it.
Now that they’re in opposition again, they’ll cynically exploit and triangulate on the issue, even though the entire tragedy is their fault.
Mr pe ll would not allow or tolerate a conscience vote under the Abb lot gummint. Besided most of the front bench seem to be of the pe ll persuasion they would be under strict instruction for NO, NO , No. History has shown time and again entrenched and industrialised bad behaviour towards min ors will be toll erated. Not the gay marriage thingy.
There is no rational reason to deny consenting adults of the same gender to have their relationship formally recognised, with all the attendant protections, rights and responsibilities.
Said recognition does not infringe upon any other citizen’s rights nor impose any extra burden upon them. The denial of this recognition does impose a burden on those it affects, thus it is unjust.
Simple, really. It doesn’t matter if the so-called silent majority wish to deny same-sex couples’ relationships formal recognition – it’s unjust to do so and does not infringe on them, so what they want is irrelevant.
The head-line suggests a division between “Love” and “God’s Word”. There is no such thing.
Rod Marr – it appears to me the Australian “Christian” Lobby would disagree.
(BTW, one of the most passionate advocates of same-sex marriage I know is a Christian)
Farz, it is “judgment”, not judgement.
Forgive my pettiness.
Rod Marr, in Genesis 4, God is quoted (not sure by whom) as saying, as He barged in out of the ether:
11. ” . . . Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
12. And the man (Adam) said, The woman who thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
13. And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done?”
So, God takes the word of the pathetic coward Adam and heaps the blame for the ensuing ‘punishment of mankind’ on THAT woman, in fact on all women. There’s no place in ‘love’ for misogyny. If this is an example of “God’s Word” (and my Holy Bible is supposed to be an endless fount of such wisdom) then there’s no place for God in secular marriage.
I object to gay marriage for the same reason that I object to female priests – both institutions are methods of social control created to keep the masses subjugated.
If you ask me the reason that there is a controversy about this at all is that it focuses attention on something which is rather trivial ( for God’s sake let anyone marry anyone they want- what’s the big deal?) while our attention is on that… the Govt is destroying our country and our children’s future. Education and Gonski gone! NBN – gone! Carbon tax-gone! GMH and jobs gone! and a longer list available, only I don’ want to bore you all.