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Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-06-17 Daily Xml
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SAME SEX MARRIAGE

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (15:54): I rise to speak to a matter close to my heart. I want to get married, but I cannot. I cannot get married in my own country. I cannot marry the person I love. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says he and his government believe that marriage should be maintained as a union between a man and a women. That is his opinion and that is fair enough. Everyone is entitled to an opinion. However, to impose his personal beliefs on the rest of the community is wrong.

Going on from that, the Prime Minister has added that the government might look at partnership registration at some time in the future. I might have accepted that 20 years ago, but times and the issue have moved on. Registration is no longer good enough. I no longer think that it is adequate that I might one day be able to go to the local council and register my partnership as I might register my dog. I want to get married.

Around the world, the fight for marriage equality has been going on, and, around the world, states, courts, communities and parliaments have been rising to the fight. They are deciding that homosexual and heterosexual couples can choose to marry and can be treated exactly the same way. The Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, South Africa, Norway, Sweden and Spain have all legalised same-sex marriage, as have the US states of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Maine and Vermont. It looks like New York is pretty close, too, and, of course, there is the ongoing debate in California.

Add to that the list of countries where civil unions are recognised—from the United Kingdom to Luxembourg, and many in between—and we start to realise how completely out of step Australia is beginning to look with those nations that we like to compare ourselves with. It is a sad state of affairs when the nation that pats itself on the back for being the country of a fair go for all denies its citizens this basic right.

It might be that I am out of step with many members here in this chamber, and I might even be out of step with some in my party. I am certainly out of step with Prime Minister Rudd on this issue, but I stand here today to let him and everyone else know that second-best is no longer an option. I am no longer content to accept the crumbs from the table. I am no longer willing to accept a reinforced second-class status. I am no longer prepared to accept the proposition that my married friends' relationships are intrinsically superior to my relationship. I certainly will not accept a proposal that means that my relationship is registered at the local council, or some similar body, because partnership registration is about death and what happens to your estate on your death.

Marriage is about life and how you live your life publicly in a loving relationship with a partner and with our families. I want to get married. Next year will be the 20th anniversary of my not being married to my partner, Leith. I could travel to Massachusetts or South Africa and get married there, but that is not my preferred option. I want to share my marriage with my family and my friends, like we all do.

No-one has been able to provide me with an adequate response as to why marriage should be confined to a man and a woman. The response that this form of traditional marriage should be retained because of biblical tradition does not hold much water for all of us who have no interest in getting married in a church and, last year, that was more than 60 per cent of all heterosexual couples who exchanged vows.

The ability to bear and raise children is another reason often given for standing against gay marriages. I know plenty of gay people who are wonderful parents, and I know plenty of straight couples who do not have children, either through choice or circumstance. So, that does not hold up as much of an argument, either.

As for the sanctity of marriage being threatened by gay marriage, all I can say is this: if your heterosexual marriage is going to be somehow devalued by your homosexual neighbours' marriage, that says more about your relationship than it does about mine—and I am not referring to you directly, sir.

The marriage equality debate is gathering speed around the world yet, once again, Australia finds itself a backwater in this debate. It is time for the community's voice to be raised, calling for marriage equality. I add my voice to that call today, because I want to get married and you, Mr Rudd, are stopping me.

Time expired.

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