With the U.K, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, South Africa, Canada, and an increasing number of other countries plus states in the US – here’s hoping Australia will jump on the same band wagon legalising same-sex marriage:
http://blogs.crikey.com.au/pollytics/2009/06/25/same-sex-marriage/
Arguments against same sex marriage shouldn’t appeal to religion. We live in a secular state, and everyone should have the right to the laws that marriage provides, which are advantageous to couples in many ways. There’s a need to see marriage as carrying a weight beyond religion, one that appeals to the sentimentality of striving for equality.
When programs like the ‘Bachelor’ or 15hour long marriages between Britney and whoever happened, it really shows how the ‘objective sacredness’ of marriage is a folly. Instead, the sacredness of marriage is something solely shared between two love birds.
Same-sex couples, like any heterosexual couple, can have a relationship full of love and respect. Some of the reasons for fighting for same-sex marriage are:
- Visitation rights in hospital – usually limited to spouse or immediate family member
- Medical decisions – also usually limited to spouse/immediate family member
- Joint ownership, especially if a spouse passes away. Without marriage, possessions go to a family member.
- Acceptance and awareness, especially vital to same-sex couples with children.
- Immigration laws – without it, couples who live in different countries don’t have the right to live with their loved ones legally.
- Despite being in a (same-sex) relationship, you have to file in many official forms, e.g. tax forms, under ’single’ – leaving same-sex couples with no union benefits.
- Not allowed to share the same health plans.
And many other reasons. Same-sex marriage is not harmful to anyone. All couples who want to spend the rest of their lives together should have the choice to be married, which in essence, are rights and laws that protect the couple. They give them the right to visit their loved ones in hospital, the right to be together despite being from different countries.
