ࡱ> %` 9bjbj"x"x 0H@@ / 4jjjD 8 <d(}}}$hevj"}}""jj"|jj"jjX @,ސ |d,0@Bj04}+|d }}}Z}}}""""  ~H\jjjj I support gay marriage. Why? Because it is an act of discrimination; it is discrimination pure and unadulterated. In Australia we have some of the best laws against discrimination to be found anywhere in the world yet by refusing homosexual people the right to marry our anti-discrimination legislation laws are debased. What is worse this discrimination is not isolated it is not hidden it is in fact institutionalised and state sponsored. It is discrimination sponsored by organised religion and must cravenly and cowardly supported by the three main political parties. I admit that until quite recently I was not a strong supporter of gay marriage at best my support was half hearted. Gay marriage was not something my partner and I, were not interested in. In fact we are happy as we are but our position was not just lazy it was wrong, it was uncaring and unthinking our position quietly supported the discrimination of the Churches and the State. Yet my partner and I have known open discrimination and been the brunt of homophobic hostility over a number of years we were abused and verbally attacked by a homophobic neighbour in Italian his first language. For some time I put his attacks down to his increasing age it was not until one of his daughters apologised for her fathers homophobic attacks that we fully understood what had been happening. While we could have stayed and fought this man who had told his daughter that his attacks on us were Gods work after he heard a Priest explain the then Cardinal Ratzingers statement on homosexuality. I wrote to the Catholic Archbishop of Tasmania requesting that he do something to stop the by that time almost daily harassment. I regret to say my letter went unanswered and our neighbour continued his shouting and his abuse. We decided to move because to take action against this man would have had a profound effect on his aged and lovely wife who was saddened by her husbands attacks and had said so privately to us when her daughter apologised. Our neighbours had lived in their Hobart home for almost fifty years we had only lived there for twelve years, we did not want to move but we did. I would argue that the refusal to amend the Marriage Act is an act of discrimination. It is just as much discrimination as was sign in a South African park or beach saying whites only. No one now suggests that a sign identifying the owners of a shop in pre-war Germany as Jewish was not an act of discrimination. Such signs be they in Cape Town of Berlin which clearly singled out and identified a minority by a government to its people proclaimed that it is OK for you the righteous majority to abuse and single out abuse and attack the identified minority. It is worth noting that the Churches in South Africa and Germany supported the discrimination against Black Africans and the Jewish minority. As far as many of our politicians are concerned gays and lesbians are to remain metaphorically excluded from our beaches. So when someone be they patrician, plebeian, politician or parson says my partner and I cannot marry we have been discriminated against and that is why I demand the right to marry if I so choose. Before I am accused of over stating my case when I used the comparisons I did let me say this I fully acknowledge that the discrimination against Jews in Germany by the Nazis and the consequences of the discrimination against Negros in South Africa were far, far worse than the discrimination against gays and lesbians in Australia today. However it is not the severity of the consequences that we are debating it is the act of sate-sponsored discrimination. The fact that fact that greater discrimination against gay and lesbian people has been dealt with now be used to make the remaining discrimination appear less than it is. Discrimination is not a shade card it does not unlike grey have almost infinite varieties This discrimination is every bit as hurtful, it causes pain and suffering for those who experience it is not only wrong it must be made illegal. This is why we have made laws forbidding discrimination this is why a racist can not spread his poison in public, this is why an employer cannot refuse to employ a person because of their colour, their religion or their disability. Yet no that long ago these were all perfectly good reasons to do just what our anti discrimination laws have made illegal. In my own lifetime I can recall seeing signs often in UK boarding house windows saying no niggers, Jews, gippos or Irish. Equally at work I recall being told that it was perfectly right and proper that women should not earn as much as men, that female teachers and public servants should loose their jobs when they became pregnant and No sane person would now suggest otherwise, we ended the discrimination. It is not that long ago homosexuals were not allowed to serve in the defence forces. The absurdity of gays not being allowed to serve openly in the military continues to this day in the United Sates with the utterly ridiculous dont ask dont tell policy. In contrast to the American system of dont ask dont tell the British Army allows gays and lesbians to serve openly and with pride. In a recent a statement by a serving officer a Colonel said that lifting the ban on gays actually made the armed forces more productive. The British magazine Soldier recently had a gay soldier as its cover picture and main story this out proud gay soldier had just celebrated ten years in the Household Cavalry. Moving on, I now want to ask a question can anyone imagine seriously suggesting that it is OK to stop the disabled getting married, or refusing indigenous people the right to marry? If anyone did either they would more than likely find themselves in front of the relevant tribunal or court facing charges of discrimination. I have heard it suggested that the numbers involved make the issues raised by gay and lesbians somehow less important than other problems in our society, gays and lesbians are small in number and can be therefore ignored this is wrong while we may be a minority we are not an insignificant minority nor do we dwell on the fringes of society. Depending on which set of statistics are used homosexuals constitute between 1.5 and 10per cent of the population. The British Integrated Household Survey, carried out by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), is the second largest after the census has sought to establish the just how many homosexual people live in Great Britain ONS stressed that the question was "experimental". Of the five per cent who did not say they were heterosexual, one per cent said they were gay or lesbian, 0.5 per cent said they were bisexual and 3.5 per cent refused to answer the question, described themselves as "other" or said they did not know. Gay rights charity Stonewall and the government both use a figure of six per cent of the population being lesbian, gay or bisexual, which works out A survey of 450,000 UK adults has found that 1.5 per cent were willing to identify themselves as lesbian, gay or bisexual. This figure comes from 2005 research by the Department for Trade and Industry. Other studies on sexual orientation have found that the figure varies between six and ten per cent. Therefore if we take the lowest figure provided by ONS 1.5% of adults are homosexual then there are approx 140,000+ homosexuals in Australia. If we take the figure of 6% 560,000 homosexuals are living, loving and working in Australia. The truth is we do not know exactly how many gay and lesbian people there are in Australia and in part this may well be due to the discrimination gay and lesbians continue to experience. It is however reasonable to assume that the numbers are significant when compared to other minority groups whose numbers we do know because they are collected by the Australian Census and published by the Bureau of Statistics. For example there were around 562,681 Indigenous people living in Australia in 2010  HYPERLINK "http://www.healthinfonet.ecu.edu.au/health-facts/summary" \l "fnl-1" [1] in 2006 there were around 463,900 Aboriginal people, 33,100 Torres Strait Islanders, and 20,200 people of both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent  HYPERLINK "http://www.healthinfonet.ecu.edu.au/health-facts/summary" \l "fnl-2" [2]. Indigenous people comprise 2.6% of the total Australian population. According to the 2006 Commonwealth census, 88,834 people identified themselves as Jews, but the census did include Australian Jews living overseas and those who preferred not to disclose their religion estimates are as high as 120,000. A quick search on the web site Disabled World shows that in Australia 436,200 people under 65 and 152,500 people reported an intellectual disability over 65. Of these, 215,100 people under 65 and 135,900 people over 65 had a profound or severe core activity limitation. The same site states that in Australia 317,400 people under 65 and 120,900 people reported acquired brain injury over 65. Of these, 99,900 people under 65 and 57,500 people over 65 had a profound or severe core activity limitation. It would seem that the number of homosexual people in Australia is about the same as the number of indigenous Australians and significantly higher than the number of Jewish Australians. When it comes to disabilities the populations living with intellectual disability and acquired brain injuries are in similar proportions to the numbers of gay and lesbian people. Which leads me to the somewhat obvious questions would anyone seriously advocate a ban on indigenous marriage or Jewish marriage? Would anyone advocate discriminating against intellectually handicapped or acquired brain injured Australians, in fact such a question borders on the obscene. Yet of the major political parties all but one have policies against gay and lesbian marriage. Our major Churches all refuse to marry gay or lesbian people citing Bronze Age texts to support their stance. Whenever the subject of gay marriage is raised gays and lesbians are subjected to rabid and all too frequently homophobic attacks in the media while the web and the blogasphere go into overdrive usually in the name of religions that claim compassion and love as their central themes. At the extreme fringe, religious groups are allowed to spout their hatred and drivel based on ancient texts that demand death for gays but not lesbians. I can only assume that God must have not been less than omnipotent at least on the day he forgot to demand death for lesbians as well as gay men. Nor should we forget that the same texts allow us to keep our neighbours as slaves, stone our wives for adultery and demand that we sacrifice our sons in atonement for our sins, something I have yet to see done in Australia by even the most religious of zealots. Yet it is these people supported by both organised religion and all but a few brave politicians and one political party who allow the priests of hate to preach hell fire and damnation and an end to life as we know it if two people of the same gender are allowed to get married in Australia. Yet elsewhere in the world gay and lesbian people can and do get married. Gay and Lesbian people can marry in Canada, Holland, Belgium they can even get married in Catholic Spain. Did the world end in when two men said I do or two women said yes? Despite all the prophesies of the world ending, lightening bolts and plagues of biblical proportions the world continued on as before benignly ignoring the mere behaviour of mankind. In our hearts we all know that the world will not end when the first two gay and or lesbian people in Australia get married it is only a matter of time and the time has come to end this discrimination. Let us look to the future a future in which people will ask just as increasing numbers are now asking, what on earth is all the fuss about. It is time to end the discrimination.  http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19861001_homosexual-persons_en.html  Source: Derived from ABS, 2009 [1] [2]  By Australian Bureau of Statistics Published: 2008-12-13 Last Modified: 2010-10-04 Read more:  HYPERLINK "http://www.disabled-world.com/disability/statistics/disability-statistics-australia.php" \l "ixzz11igjUq6b" http://www.disabled-world.com/disability/statistics/disability-statistics-australia.php#ixzz11igjUq6b     D %& !&!/!!!!c#d#$'s't''''''i(j(((((()) )))*խ~phr@B*OJQJaJphhhhr@OJQJjhr@U hr@0Jjhr@Ujhr@U+hr@B*CJOJQJ^JaJmH ph&&&sH "hr@CJOJQJ^JaJmH sH (h)hr@CJOJQJ^JaJmH sH hbjhr@0JUhr@h |(D GTSQ R !!"d#e##/$$$%'$dh1$7$8$H$a$gdr@$dh1$7$8$H$a$gdr@ $dha$gdr@ 789' ))+^-_-R/S/r0s033J6K6667777777 $dha$gdr@ $dha$gdr@$dha$gdr@$dh1$7$8$H$a$gdr@*++++++J4K4667 7 7 7 77777777778ǼǝǓuhuhU@U(hhhb6B*CJOJQJaJph%hhhbB*CJOJQJaJphhhhbCJOJQJ%jhhhb0JCJOJQJU h ahbhbjhb0JU(h)hr@CJOJQJ^JaJmH sH h? hr@5CJ hr@5CJhthr@(jhr@0JB*OJQJUaJphhr@B*OJQJaJph!hhhr@B*OJQJaJph77 7 7 7778888888888899gdr@ $dha$gdr@$dh1$7$8$H$a$gdr@ $dha$gdr@8888888888888888899պ՘hr@jh{Uh{hhhbCJOJQJ(hhhb>*B* CJOJQJaJph34jhhhbB*CJOJQJUaJph%hhhbB*CJOJQJaJph.jhhhbB*CJOJQJUaJph.:pr@/ =!"#$% DyK  yK rhttp://www.healthinfonet.ecu.edu.au/health-facts/summaryfnl-1DyK  yK rhttp://www.healthinfonet.ecu.edu.au/health-facts/summaryfnl-2ADyK  yK http://www.disabled-world.com/disability/statistics/disability-statistics-australia.phpixzz11igjUq6b666666666vvvvvvvvv666666>6666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666hH666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666L@L =Normal CJOJQJ_HaJmH sH tH DA@D Default Paragraph FontRiR Table Normal4 l4a (k( No List 4U@4 .0 Hyperlink >*ph6@6 .0 Footnote Text<< .0 Char CharCJOJQJaJ@&@!@ .0Footnote ReferenceH*P^@2P h0 Normal (Web)XDYDCJOJQJaJ,X@A, h@Emphasis6%!#1y1H1D /1!|"!~-V!U *!DG TSQRde/ !!#^%_%R'S'r(s(++J.K...//////// / / ///00000000000100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000@0@0@0@000@0X00@0X00@0X00@0X00X00 *89!#'79 "9si 1XX}X8@0(  B S  ? |.dW.#T ll q/dy..w.yy1"1"!#!#;,C,C,L,1   {{:":"*#*#A,J,S,S,1  8 *urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttagsCityB *urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttagscountry-region9 *urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttagsplace Pȉ  '( /0000000000001 :#?# /0000000000001333J,K, /1J,K, / /00000000000001[D64[D76RBmeBmebr@h^Y{ft | / /01=^@ / /6@ / /1@@UnknownGz Times New Roman5Symbol3& z ArialWLucida GrandeMS Mincho5& zaTahoma7K@Cambria;" Helvetica3z Times 1hR f] f (U(U!hh4d..J#QHP?'q2I support gay marriagexxBethany HenderOh+'0x  4 @ LX`hpxI support gay marriagexx Normal.dotBethany Hender3Microsoft Office Word@H'@rܐ@ݐ(GvVT$m 1;&" WMFC& 0PlUT#m EMFP #f   %  Rp@"Helvetica;"Helvetca6D!$`}]| $0lN0dv%  TZ_̇@?@@MLI support gay marriage. Why? Because it is an act of discrimination; it is 528888!57815T8!!87853b81855B828818552588582575822!S8887552 T v_̇@?@@aNLdiscrimination pure and unadulterated. In Australia we have some of the best 822!T8878*88!8*878*888788!787**8*C82!88*G8*8818*28T8*7*88*881 T "_̇@?@@ NLlaws against discrimination to be found anywhere in the world yet by refusing 8G2-87882-822!T7888,8,88,8788-781G88!8-8-88-G8!8-18-81-!88287 T`K_̇@?@@L|homosexual people the r88S828188#78788#78#!TK` _̇@?@@KLxight to marry our anti78#8#S8!!1#88!#87TT ` _̇@?@@ LP-!T$ `_̇@?@@ $Ldiscrimination legislation laws are 822!T8887#872888#8G2#8!7 TP {_̇@?@@fVLdebased. What is worse this discrimination is not isolated it is not hidden it is in 8878287!b77!2!G8"28!82!822!T8888!2!88!28878!!2!88 88878!!2!9 T((_̇@?@@OLfact institutionalised and state sponsored. It is discrimination sponsored by 829818788278978892879278828 8889919822!T78879188818!87981 T e_̇@?@@ Lorganised religion and must crav8!788288#!8788#887#T82#2!81T`e_̇@?@@.Lenly and cowardly supported by the three main 881#888#27G8!81#28888!88#81#88#8!78#T87 T_̇@?@@lLxpolitical parties. 882878!82TT(_̇@?@@lLP 5 T@_̇@?@@kSL I admit that until quite recently I was not a strong supporter of gay marriage at %87T%88%78%787%!82881%&G82%88%8%2!887%28888!8!%7%781%T8!!878%8 T- _̇@?@@ MLbest my support was half hearted. Gay marriage was not something my partner 882!T1!28878!!G82!88 888!88!!N81!T8!!878!G82!88!28T8877!T1!88!88! Tj  _̇@?@@ Land I, were not interested i888G8!88888!8288Tj  _̇@?@@ 8Ln. 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For some time I put his attacks down to 8878878!&8&887&82&!2&8878878&&=8!%28T7&S8&&87&82%88222&78G8&7 Tu I _̇@?@@ >Lhis increasing age it was not until one of his daughter s apol8282!88287878G828787878782888788!2888TJ u  _̇@?@@J L|ogised for her fathers 872888!88!878!2 T"_̇@?@@|LLhomophobic attacks that we fully understood what had been happening. While 88S878882&78222&78&G8&81&8888!2787&G88&888&8878&87878887&$b77 T=_̇@?@@(LLwe could have stayed and fought this man who had told his daughter that his G8+2888+8818+28188+887*7878+82+S88*G88+888+88*82+787788!+87+81 T,{_̇@?@@PLattacks on us were God s work after he heard a Priest explain the then Cardinal 88222!88"82"G8!8"N782"G8!2"88!"78"878!8"8"C!82"81888"88"888"H8!887Rp@"Helvetica#1b!H P;P M,2b!H P;;"HelvetcaPLLd0dlN0|dv%  % TT'5_̇@?@@LPRHT,6' _̇@?@@6%Latzinger s statement on homosexuality81878!2%288T78$88%78S8281881% !% TT  a_̇@?@@ SLP1%" % TD '_̇@?@@ )L. 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Our neighbours hadG888&88!&788788!%87887288&&M8!&8878788!2&878T> 2_̇@?@@> Ll lived in their &188&8&78!&T2_̇@?@@ LdHobart homeH888!%87S7TT2_̇@?@@LP  % !T<Mo_̇@?@@Z(L T`No_̇@?@@NZLT " '% Ld@D@!??% ( % TTo_̇@?@@ZLP 6%  % !% TT_̇@?@@LP1%" % TT.6_̇@?@@!LP  T :_̇@?@@NLhttp://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith88HHG1828818!8T78818!82787!8788821888827T782 282878187 T _̇@?@@L|_doc_19861001_homosexual8881887878878787T728188TT._̇@?@@LP-!T/ _̇@?@@/Llpersons_en.html88!28827888TTT H _̇@?@@ LP 6% 666666666666666666666666666666666666 6 66 6  6 66 6  6 66 6  6 66 6  6 66 6 66666666666666666666  DJ."System-@"Helvetica- 2 r|MMBI support gay marriage. Why? Because it is an act of discrimination; it is h                 2 |NMBdiscrimination pure and unadulterated. In Australia we have some of the best                       2 |NMBlaws against discrimination to be found anywhere in the world yet by refusing                       .2 |MBhomosexual people the rl      ,2 5MBight to marry our anti      2 MB-OA2 $MBdiscrimination legislation laws are          2 |VMBdebased. What is worse this discrimination is not isolated it is not hidden it is in                    2 |OMBfact institutionalised and state sponsored. It is discrimination sponsored by                 ;2 | MBorganised religion and must crav          P2 p.MBenly and cowardly supported by the three main            +2 :|MBpolitical parties. i     2 :MB O 2 d|SMB I admit that until quite recently I was not a strong supporter of gay marriage at i                  2 |MMBbest my support was half hearted. Gay marriage was not something my partner y                 52 |MBand I, were not interested i        _2 @8MBn. In fact we are happy as we are but our position was                2 |PMBnot just lazy it was wrong, it was uncaring and unthinking our position quietly                    2 |RMBsupported the discrimination of the Churches and the State. Yet my partner and I                     D2 |&MBhave known open discrimination and bee         I2 )MBn the brunt of homophobic hostility over m           v2 |GMBa number of years we were abused and verbally attacked by a homophobic                  2 ,|RMBneighbour in Italian his first language. For some time I put his attacks down to                  h2 H|>MBhis increasing age it was not until one of his daughters apol              .2 H3MBogised for her fathers l      }2 e|LMBhomophobic attacks that we fully understood what had been happening. 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Our neighbours hado           #2 eMB lived in their    2 eo MBHobart homeh  2 eMB O-,BMC2 |(  2 6 '- @ !|-- 2 CMB O --,BM- 2 |1O'- 2 MB O2 |NMBhttp://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith                    /2 |MB_doc_19861001_homosexual      2 UMB-O"2 [MBpersons_en.html     2 MB O -BBMMBBLLBBLLBBLLBBLLBBLLAALLAAKKAAKKAAKKAAKKAAKK@@KK@@JJ@@JJ@@JJ@@JJ@@JJ??JJ՜.+,D՜.+,d  hp  $鱨վU.' I support gay marriage Title 8@ _PID_HLINKSA`_9http://www.healthinfonet.ecu.edu.au/health-facts/summaryfnl-2_9http://www.healthinfonet.ecu.edu.au/health-facts/summaryfnl-1p!Xhttp://www.disabled-world.com/disability/statistics/disability-statistics-australia.phpixzz11igjUq6b  !"#$&'()*+,./0123456789;<=>?@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ[\]^_`abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvxyz{|}~Root Entry F0ސData %1Table-WordDocument0HSummaryInformation(:4xDocumentSummaryInformation8wCompObjq  FMicrosoft Office Word Document MSWordDocWord.Document.89q