SAME-SEX MARRIAGE: For and against Part 3
Greens MP Lyn MacLaren’s same-sex marriage Bill will go before State Parliament for debate in October. Here, in the third of a five-part online series, Lisa Thomas presents arguments for and against.
For: No shame
Former Geraldton MLA Shane Hill has never been ashamed of who he is, even declaring he was openly gay while serving in politics.
He said everyone in the world should have the option to find love and marry.
“I would like to have the opportunity to get married one day, ” he said.
“If the opportunity arose and I met someone who I wanted to spend the rest of my life with then, yes, I’d like to have that option.
“And it does annoy me that currently the gay and lesbian population of Australia doesn’t.”
Mr Hill said he thought Australia would soon realise they were making a mistake.
“In the next five years it will be made legal, ” he said. “It has to be done federally and I hope Melissa Price will give it her conscience vote and give all Australians equal rights.”
Against: Redefining family
Martin Weatherston has been a civil celebrant for 24 years and has taken part in hundreds of men and women coming together in marriage.
He is against same-sex marriage and thinks it confuses the understanding of family.
“I don’t think governments should change the understanding of marriage — marriage is the definition of family and if we lose that, then we lose our family dynamic, ” he said.
“There is research that shows children benefit from having a parent from each gender.
“I think it’s questionable that same-sex couples should have children.”
Mr Weatherston said same-sex marriage would affect the fundamental unit of our society.
“If you think about education and the father and mother figures, it has an impact on our language and what we think about family, ” he said.
“If you change this and redefine it you cause problems with the education system.”
He said same-sex couples should not be denied social benefits.
“(But) I think it’s strange to think they want to get married when they can quite happily be in a defacto relationship, ” he said.
“I think it’s a reality that under the law marriage in this country is between a man and a woman.
“If we legalise same-sex marriage, we do it at our peril.
“There are dangers to our society if we do it and for a small militant group.
“I wouldn’t give my five-year-old a machine gun or rocket missile just because he wanted one.”
