NSW a step closer to gay marriage

[Rorschach]

NSW a step closer to gay marriage
* From: AAP
* July 27, 2013 8:46AM

NSW is one step closer to allowing same-sex marriage after a parliamentary committee found it can be legislated at a state level.

The findings have been welcomed by a cross-party working group, which described it as "a momentous step forward" for marriage equality.

Premier Barry O'Farrell has previously said he would prefer federal parliament to change the Marriage Act.

But he said he would be prepared to go it alone if the inquiry found the state can act by itself.

He's promised a conscience vote on the issue, with a revised bill expected to be introduced in the next session of parliament.

On Friday, the report from the Social Issues Committee Inquiry found it was constitutionally valid for NSW to legislate on same-sex marriage.

However, it warned such a move could trigger a challenge in the High Court.

The findings put to rest arguments that federal parliament has sole responsibility for marriage equality laws, and that progressing same-sex marriage isn't a matter for the states.

In a statement, the cross-party working group - comprised of MPs from across the political spectrum including Labor, Liberal, the Greens and an independent - welcomed the findings. Who were they? Was it a unanimous decision?

"The interest this inquiry has inspired demonstrates the support this issue has across the wider community," the statement said. not my wider community.

The group said it remained committed to marriage equality. Equality is not the issue.

"We will be examining the detail of the report, and will release further comment regarding our bill in the near future," the statement said.

It's hoped the private member's bill will be voted on by the end of the year, making NSW the first Australian state to legalise same-sex marriage.

Well I'll be emailing all these morons.
If this is a decision that needs to be made it needs to be made by everyone not just some bone headed morons in power. This was not an issue mandated to anyone at any election.
This is a societal change and as such it must be brought to society to vote on at a referendum.

[Super Nova]

If this is a decision that needs to be made it needs to be made by everyone not just some bone headed morons in power. This was not an issue mandated to anyone at any election.
This is a societal change and as such it must be brought to society to vote on at a referendum.

It's not a societal change. They have been banging each other for centuries. They do it now. Recently they do it in the open. They life as couples. They share resources and property. They should be recognised under law as a couple. Marriage is a symbol of a commitment of two people to each other under law and under god.... ha ha.

Do you have a problem with poofters?

[Rorschach]

oh dear... religious bigotry and homophobic bigotry... what other surprises do you have in store for me there SN?

I don't have either... you can be an atheist in my world and a homosexual. Not my concern what your personal/individual preferences are. As mine are of no concern to you.

Yes this is a societal change. Or are you telling me that marriage (the union of a man and a woman) is not the norm? please tell me in what society for all the time you claim same sex marriage has been the norm? How many children have been born from such unions?

[Super Nova]

oh dear... religious bigotry and homophobic bigotry... what other surprises do you have in store for me there SN?

Oh dear. It appeared to me that your views are homophobic. This issue has been done to death. My view is let them marry, have a union. Who are we to stop 2 people having a union that is recognised.

I don't have either... you can be an atheist in my world and a homosexual. Not my concern what your personal/individual preferences are. As mine are of no concern to you.

Well I am glad they are allowed to exist in your world.

Yes this is a societal change. Or are you telling me that marriage (the union of a man and a woman) is not the norm? please tell me in what society for all the time you claim same sex marriage has been the norm? How many children have been born from such unions?

if the norm is over 50% then no. Have it been around since the beginning of time yes. So a 10% (e.g.) sample of the population is gay and that appears to the be the ratio for a long time, then it is normal for a substantial % of the population to be gay.

I said nothing about norms. Fro 5 to 10% of the population it is their normal sexual preference.

[Rorschach]

oh dear... religious bigotry and homophobic bigotry... what other surprises do you have in store for me there SN?

Oh dear. It appeared to me that your views are homophobic. This issue has been done to death. My view is let them marry, have a union. Who are we to stop 2 people having a union that is recognised.

Which was entirely due to your bigotry not anything I said.

BTW I said nothing about homosexuality as such... I was addressing same sex marriage. For all you know I may be gay.

[Rorschach]

Contact for the Governor of NSW...

http://www.governor.nsw.gov.au/contact/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Rorschach]

Ok so where is the independent the article mentioned on the committee?

Position
Chair: The Hon. Niall BLAIR (Nat, LC Member).
Deputy Chair: The Hon. Helen WESTWOOD (ALP, LC Member).
Members: The Hon. Jan BARHAM (The Greens, LC Member)
The Hon. Catherine CUSACK (Lib, LC Member)
The Hon. Greg DONNELLY (ALP, LC Member)
The Hon. Natasha MACLAREN-JONES (Lib, LC Member)

[Rorschach]

Ok so here's a list of the cross-party working group...

The cross party working group, comprised of Mr Greenwich, Mr Notley-Smith, Labor MP Penny Sharpe, Nationals MP Trevor Khan, and the Greens Mehreen Faruqi, said they are confident their private members bill ''is constitutionally valid and would withstand any challenge to the High Court''.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/nsw-set-to-ba ... z2aDTcW5Hm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

so how many people actually knew of this group and what they were up to... apparently a lot of pro-gay marriage groups did.

[Black Orchid]

Not being in support of gay marriage doesn't make one homophobic. This Bill specifically excludes transgenders. Discriminatory before it even gets off the ground?

It's a can of worms imo.

[Rorschach]

SOCIETY:
Same-sex couples a tiny percentage of households
by Peter Westmore
News Weekly, August 17, 2013

Figures recently released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics show that same-sex couples comprise only a tiny percentage of the number of households in Australia.

The figures were obtained from the 2011 Census.

They show that the number of same-sex couples living together across Australia was 33,174. In contrast, the same census data revealed that there were about 8.18 million households and 5.68 million families in Australia.

The ABS definition of families is two or more persons, one of whom is at least 15 years of age, who are related by blood, marriage (registered or de facto), adoption, step or fostering, and who are usually resident in the same household.

In proportional terms, same-sex couples comprised about one in every 250 households. 0.4%

It is also instructive to compare the number of same-sex couples with the number of de facto couples — that is, people living together in long-term relationships without marriage.

According to the ABS, the number of these is around one million, so that same-sex couples comprise only about three per cent of the number of de facto couples in Australia.

When one looks at the number of married couples, the contrast is even more stark.

There are over four million married couples. In contrast, the number of same-sex couples is fewer than one per cent of that figure.

The figures show that the campaign to amend the law to permit same-sex couples to marry would affect a tiny proportion of the population, while fundamentally altering the nature of the institution itself for the overwhelming majority of the population.

The figures also show significant differences in parenting between same-sex couples and heterosexual couples.

According to the figures, 88 per cent of same-sex couples have no dependent children living with them, compared to only 38 per cent of all couples — including “empty-nesters” whose children have grown up and are no longer living with them.

Same-sex couples living together with children would include both those who have children from previous relationships as well as those who have conceived artificially through IVF programs.

The figures suggest that marriage in this country remains closely connected with having and rearing children, and is not merely a legal register of relationships. A point I and others have been making over and over again. Something apparently Kevvy and Co have forgotten.

Some commentators have argued that marriage here is declining in popularity, with fewer people getting married and more living together without marriage.

While the data supports this conclusion, it is important to remember that 49 per cent of the Australian population over the age of 15 are married, a small decline from the proportion married in 2001 (51 per cent).

As Dr Genevieve Heard, research fellow at Monash University’s Centre for Population and Urban Research, recently pointed out, “the proportion ever married exceeded 70% at 35–39 years of age, exceeded 90% at 55–59 years, and peaked at 96% among those aged 75-79 years, 80-84 years and 85 years or more” (The Conversation, June 26, 2012).

One of the arguments pushed by the homosexual lobby is that same-sex marriage would provide marriage equality. And it is a load of c r a p!

It is instructive to look at what has happened in Victoria since the state recognised same-sex relationships back in 2008.

Since the last Labor government in Victoria introduced the Relationships Register, fewer than 600 same-sex couples in the state have signed it (Star Observer, November 28, 2012).

This indicates that even if “same-sex marriage” was legalised, most same-sex couples would still not marry. A point I have been making over and over again... but the LW Prog rusted-ons continue to live in denial.

The number of marriages in Victoria over the same period was about 113,000, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. vastly more than the very very tiny tiny small minority of same sex couples.

The Victorian figures highlight the fact that legal recognition of same-sex relationships has already been conceded in society, but relatively few same-sex couples avail themselves of it.

Over the years, legislation at both state and federal levels has removed any vestige of discrimination against same-sex couples. Yet still they cry for equality in an effort to change society. When equality has nothing to do with it.

Recent measures have included access to pensions and superannuation, protection in the workplace, and laws which outlaw discrimination on the grounds of sex or sexual preference.

The claim that marriage will confer equality on same-sex couples is therefore a sham. Something I have stated again and again and again.