|
Written by Rachel Cook
|
|
Friday, 24 July 2009 16:11 |
 Australians for Marriage Equality (AME) have released a ‘tool kit’ to assist people wanting to make submissions to the Marriage Amendment Bill 2009 inquiry.
Peter Furness, national convenor for AME (pictured) told WAX the tool kit gives examples of what other people have put in so far.
“As of Sunday night there had been nearly 800 submissions made to our website alone,” Furness said.
“Most of them, about 500, were from people who had gone to the effort of making individual stories which are quite powerful to read.”
Furness said 16,000 submissions were made in support of same-sex marriage when the last inquiry into the Marriage Act was carried out in 2004.
“That is the greatest number of submissions any senate inquiry has ever received. The other side got somewhere between 12 and 13,000 and almost all of them were simply people signing a petition in support of submissions made by the Australian Christian Lobby and other groups.”
Furness said if people did not want to write an individual submission there was also the option to sign the online petition.
“We also know with experience from similar inquiries such as the recent National Human Rights consultations that people do go through and read those personal stories and they win people over.
“A lot of people are daunted by putting together a submission, but we want to get the message out that you can write just one sentence, or you can choose to write more and talk about yourself.”
Furness said it is beneficial to have family members write a submission too.
“We are also getting great submissions from parents and brothers and people who work with gay and lesbian people and they are very compelling.”
Since the failure to amend the Marriage Act in 2004, Furness said gay rights activists are more organised for this latest inquiry.
“Having been a little burnt in the 2004 inquiry, we are keen to make sure that the number of submissions this time more closely reflect the communities’ attitudes which they certainly didn’t last time.”
Martin Baldock, spokesperson for Equal Love, said although changes to federal laws now see same-sex couples treated the same as opposite-sex de facto couples, inequality still exists.
"With the reforms that came into effect on July 1 same-sex couples now have all the same rights and responsibilities as a married couple except one – they’re not allowed to actually get married.
“For the government to stop same-sex couples so close to the finish line is just plain mean-spirited. It’s like rubbing it in their faces to show them that they’re still not quite human and that marriage is still reserved as an exclusive institution for heterosexuals. For their own government to tell them that is intolerable.”
 |
Subscribe to this comment's feed