The
Attorney-General,
Robert
McClelland,
has again been
forced to
justify the
Australian
Government's
refusal to
recognise
same-sex
marriages.
Australian
Marriage
Equality (AME)
has asked the
Attorney-General to
explain
his rationale
for marriage
discrimination provided recently
in response to a
question on
notice at his deparment's NGO
Forum on
Domestic Human
Rights held in
Canberra on 10
June.
According to the
Attorney-General,
"The
Government's
policy on
marriage
reflects the
widely held view
in the community
that marriage is
between a man
and a woman.
This in turn
reflects the
traditional view
of marriage that
has been built
over many
centuries".
In an open
letter, AME
national
secretary, Alex
Greenwich, asked Mr
McClelland:
Given the
stated
rationale
for the
Government’s
current
policy, will
the
Government
reverse its
refusal to
recognise
same-sex
marriages if
it can be
shown that a
majority of
Australians
support
equal
marriage?
Independent
polling has
shown that
a significant majority
of Australians
support the
right of
same-sex couples
to marry and the
legal
recognition of
same-sex
marriages
entered into
overseas.
AME has
requested the
opportunity to
demonstrate
this support for
equal marriage
to the
Attorney-General.
The letter to
the
Attorney-General
preceded a
speech
on Wednesday
by Justice
Michael Kirby in
which the High
Court judge
compared the
denial of
same-sex
marriage to laws
which prohibited
interracial
unions in the
United States
and marriage
between Jews and
Aryans in Nazi
Germany.
"Polls show
almost 60% of
Australians
support same-sex
marriage making
Justice Kirby a
more accurate
barometer of the
Australian
mainstream than
either major
party",
said Alex
Greenwich.
"Kirby rightly
dismissed both
tradition and
religion as
bases for
continued
discrimination,
challenging both
major parties to
come up with a
properly
reasoned
justification
for inequality."
