Do I Want to get Married?

Allo Allo,

Great news for the Australian Gay Equal Rights campaign this week. With the 'National Day of Action for Marriage' this Saturday it is with overwhelming joy that I share this news with you. Over the weekend the Victorian Labor Party at its state conference passed a unanimous motion to legalise same sex marriage. Calling for the Federal Government to take the issue before parliament once more, and this time legalise it. The chances of this occurring however are slim while our country is under Prim Minister Kevin Rudd's leadership. Known to be a devout catholic and having already binned two previous attempts it is highly unlikely, especially when he considers the mass popularity he achieved among the Hillsong church during the election one of the major contributing forces to his win.

Either way this is still great news, because now two states have called for the legalisation, Tasmania being the first earlier this year. And with another federal election just around the corner, surely this we'll be a prime topic future candidates will be trying to support.

However, I was thinking to myself do I personally ever want to get married? And honestly I really couldn't give two hoots. I believe marriage is something that should stay within religion, its one of there sacraments so they can argue over it and deny it to whomever they see unfit. What I want is to enjoy all the legal rights a married couple is granted by the government, I want a civil union. Presently if I was in a committed relationship with another man, and say he got a terminal illness and was in hospital, I would have to carry around with me several different documents stating I had legal rights to make decisions for him in the event he couldn't. I would also need to have a Justice of the Peace and Lawyer on call just in case. And even with all of that it still wouldn't be a guaranteed matter that I'd be recognised. Thats just one of the many rights we currently don't have equal footing with our heterosexual brethren.

We abolished the white Australia policy in the 1970's and gave Aboriginal people equal rights with the rest of us, lets hope that in the 2010's we will abolish the Gay Discrimination laws in place and grant equal rights to us as well.

xoxo