Marriage equality

Extract from Hansard
[COUNCIL — Thursday, 1 December 2011]
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Hon Lynn MacLaren

MARRIAGE EQUALITY

Statement

HON LYNN MacLAREN (South Metropolitan) [6.25 pm]: I rise tonight to express my support for marriage
equality and to urge all Western Australians to call upon the Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia to
amend the commonwealth Marriage Act 1961 to provide for that marriage equality. It is an important time to do
that, because this weekend the Australian Labor Party national conference will be considering changing its
policy to end discrimination in marriage. The Parliaments of Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory have
already supported this, and we hope that the Western Australian Parliament, had it the opportunity to debate this motion, would also support it. I know that, come the new year, the South Australian and Victorian Parliaments will be debating this very motion. However, at this stage, on behalf of the Greens (WA), I felt that it was important to put on the record our support for marriage equality. The time is certainly now. I will take only three minutes to explain how important this is.

Many couples are asking for marriage equality. Their mums and dads, brothers and sisters, daughters and sons, cousins, nephews, nieces, aunts, friends, work colleagues and teammates have all supported the campaigns for marriage equality. In fact, today we learnt that 130 000 Australians have signed the GetUp! petition to send a message to the ALP conference. This weekend will be a major milestone and I hope that our colleagues here in Western Australia who go across to the ALP conference take the message that Western Australians want marriage equality to be adopted by the party. It is going to be a hot topic and if the media predictions are true, the motion to endorse same-sex marriage will be supported. With the support of the ALP members in the House of Representatives and in the Senate, the Greens motion to remove discrimination in marriage will be supported in the commonwealth, and that will be a very exciting time.

I want to tell the house that last night the Queensland Parliament voted to adopt civil unions for same-sex
couples. Civil unions have been adopted in other jurisdictions around Australia, although Western Australia has not yet done that. New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory, Tasmania and Victoria have all adopted civil union reforms for same-sex couples. Since 2001, 10 countries have allowed same-sex couples to marry nationwide. Do members know which ones they are? They are Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Iceland, the
Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, South Africa and Sweden. Same-sex marriages are also performed and
recognised in Mexico City and in the United States in Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York—most obviously when it did that it was a very exciting moment for us all—and Vermont, which is where my own grandparents come from.

It is high time that Australia joins these other civilised states and nations in rejecting prejudice and embracing
marriage equality. Opponents have argued that allowing same-sex marriage will cause potential damage to
children and to the sacred institution of marriage. However, neither of those claims is borne out by the evidence.

American and Australian psychological associations agree that the children raised by same-sex couples are just as well adjusted as their peers, perhaps even better adjusted than their peers. In fact the American association went further, saying that if children of same-sex couples experience any harm, it is due to the fact their parents cannot marry. Despite all the doom-mongering to the contrary, studies in North America and Europe have also found that allowing same-sex couples to marry actually strengthens the institution of marriage rather than redefining or weakening it. The leaders of both the ALP and the federal opposition are out of step with most Australians on this. They should listen to what the surveys say the voters want. Some day soon I hope we will look back on this same-sex marriage debate and wonder what all the fuss was about, and wonder how such inequitable and prejudicial laws could prevent someone from marrying the person they love and how we could have allowed them to persist for so long.