ࡱ> +),` bjbjss .hhhhhhh  r hW Y Y Y Y Y Y $@h*} h} hh R R R  hhW R W R R  hh  @9  W 0   @  h+ ,R } } H  rrrrrr|hhhhhh Same-Sex Inquiry Human Rights Unit Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001 Via email:  HYPERLINK "mailto:samesex@humanrights.gov.au" \o "mailto:samesex@humanrights.gov.au" samesex@humanrights.gov.au I am an Australian citizen who pays my taxes, contributes to Australian life, and who also happens to be a lesbian. Starting from that premise, why should I suffer financial and other forms of discrimination just because I am a lesbian? These forms of discrimination include: Access to superannuation benefits Being able to nominate my partner as beneficiary of my superannuation and feel sure that my wishes will be respected Any taxation benefits that applied to married heterosexual couples Medicate rebate thresholds In opposing marriage or civil unions for same-sex couples, governments confuse the religious with the civil aspects. While the High Court has held that section 116 of the Australian Constitution does not achieve a separation of church and state [see Attorney-General (Vic): Ex rel Black v The Commonwealth (1981) 146 CLR 559] in the same way as the First Amendment to the US Constitution, Australia nevertheless has a strong secularist tradition. There have been many anti-discrimination laws enacted at both federal and state levels over the last 30 years, some of them in the face of strong opposition from various religious organisations. Same sex civil unions (or marriage) simply take things one step further. Moreover, the Marriage Act 1961 (Cth) already recognises religious and non-religious forms of marriage. Accordingly, there is no logical or legal basis for governments to erect obstacles (or leave existing ones in place) that get in the way of our right to exercise choices about the way want to live, and organise our financial and other affairs, with our partner. If, as John Howard says, we have responsibilities, then governments also have responsibilities to ensure that all citizens (including gays and lesbians) have the same opportunities to enjoy benefits that flow from observing those responsibilities (such as paying taxes), and do not have their reasonable aspirations frustrated by dogma imposed by unelected religious organisations. Yours sincerely Helen Fleming moz{b d   & ( 0 35:;!1įĤĊ"hYCJOJQJ^JaJmH sH h'ZmH sH h'Z6]mH sH (h'Z6CJOJQJ]^JaJmH sH "h'ZCJOJQJ^JaJmH sH h'Z0JCJOJQJ^JaJjh'ZUh'Zh'ZCJOJQJ^JaJ)d  ( 5; & Fdd[$\$gd'Zgd'Z ,1h. A!"#$% @@@ NormalCJ_HaJmH sH tH DA@D Default Paragraph FontRiR  Table Normal4 l4a (k(No ListB^@B 'Z Normal (Web)dd[$\$4U@4 'Z Hyperlink >*phHH Y Balloon TextCJOJQJ^JaJ "&d(5;r Vr Vr Vr 9Yr r 9Yr 9Yr Vr Vr Vr Vr Vr d(5;000 0 0 0 0000000d(5;h0h0h0h0h0h0h0h0h0h0h0h0   zXllmm!!1rw ۪^`CJOJQJo(^`CJOJQJo(opp^p`CJOJQJo(@ @ ^@ `CJOJQJo(^`CJOJQJo(^`CJOJQJo(^`CJOJQJo(^`CJOJQJo(PP^P`CJOJQJo(rw 7f6^|J'Z8`gY^@s`@UnknownGz Times New Roman5Symbol3& z Arial5& zaTahoma?5 z Courier New;Wingdings"hҦ&Ҧ&`z$`z$r42X)?'Z2 Oh+'0d   , 8DLT\ Normal.dot4Microsoft Office Word@@X@X`z՜.+,D՜.+,< px  $  Title 8@ _PID_HLINKSA|q"mailto:samesex@humanrights.gov.au  !"#$%(Root Entry F@*1Table WordDocument.SummaryInformation(DocumentSummaryInformation8CompObjq  FMicrosoft Office Word Document MSWordDocWord.Document.89qRoot Entry FPl<ɘ*1Table WordDocument.SummaryInformation( 5./01234՜.+,D՜.+,< px  $  Title 8@ _PID_HLINKSA|q"mailto:samesex@humanrights.gov.auDocumentSummaryInformation8-CompObjq