Oooh, where to start on this one? First of all –
CONGRATULATIONS NEW ZEALAND!! Well done you and thank you so much!! Good on
Louisa Wall for sponsoring the bill!
Also, in keeping with the practically compulsory patriarchal
tradition of only discussing female political figures in terms of their physical
appearance and dress, isn’t Louisa Wall lovely? :D
Ok, now that we’ve done that bit, now for the hard part. AUSTRALIA
WHERE ARE YOU?
How far behind do we have to lag on the question of what is
right? Especially when, in this case, what is right lines up so neatly with
what the people want?
Anyways, what I really wanted to talk about is just how
horrible I find one of the particular arguments against same sex marriage.
It’s the “allowing same sex marriage will diminish and devalue
the meaning of marriage” argument. This really gives me the pip – to the point
that it’s actually getting harder to just plain state my thoughts and not start
ranting and yelling and whacking people with the how-on-earth-did-you-get-to-be-like-this
stick.
Speaking as a person with a marriage of my own, I think it
devalues that marriage to have to hear my country saying “Hi there! Australia
will extend this fairly basic civil right to only some of our citizens. We will
exclude other citizens. Not for any particular reason, just because we say that
our previous cultural conditioning is far more important than the present
happiness and legal rights of some of our citizens.”
There are plenty of things that do devalue the ideal of marriage:
A country that for arbitrary and
unjust reasons only allows some of its consenting adult citizens to marry, but denies
that right to others;
Celebrity 3-day marriages
consecrated by Elvis in the Chapel o’Love at Vegas;
Marriages conducted without love
or mutual respect solely as a property/power liaison between families;
Forced marriages;
Liars, cheaters and those who, for whatever reason, deliberately misrepresent themselves in relationships (Yes honey, I DO want
kids, lots and lots of kids); and
Abusers of power – emotional,
mental, physical and/or sexual domestic abuse.
These are all things that devalue, debase, diminish and
damage marriage as an institution.
But allowing two consenting adults who genuinely love and
respect each other to marry? Nope, that one is only ever going to enhance
marriage and strengthen our communities.
It will happen here one day. If only because we always claim every good thing from New Zealand as our own.
