ࡱ> geh` Fbjbjss 8b> 48< , *L (t t t t O!O!O!$*&*&*&*&*&*&*$+h-*J*&O!O!&&J*t t _*(((&t t $*(&$*(((t @ 0| B&($*u*0*(#.|'H#.(#.(PO!H"(#=$O!O!O!J*J*(O!O!O!*&&&& d<d <T6  To Same-Sex Inquiry Human Rights Unit HREOC Dear HREOC, Thankyou for giving us the opportunity to make a submission into: Same-Sex, Same Entitlements, June 2006. Myself & my partner have been in a same-gender relationship for the last 10 years & 3 months. We have been raising two children living with us, who have turned out wonderful despite the current climate of increasing government-created new homophobic laws & restrictions. Although we feel under attack, our personal experience is that most people are very accepting of us & that the government is out of touch with the people on this issue & are only listening to a small well organised group of U.S. influenced evangelical christians. Thankfully, most average Australians we come across, including those in mainstream christian non-evangelical-controlled religions are very fair minded & supportive of us- even individual catholic priests have given us their blessing, saying that Jesus never mentioned gays once, (and in his time they were everywhere, so if it was important he would have said something). The main thing that we want to convey is the importance of the image of status of same gender couples, and how that image is affected by the law treating us like second class citizens. Its like the chicken & egg, and all needs to be looked at as a total package. It was interesting to see that the recently struck down A.C.T. Civil Union laws (modelled on the new British civil unions) were struck down by Phillip Ruddock more for the image & ceremony (as he mentioned at a press conference), rather than mentioning anything about the legal benefits they give- its all about the image of keeping same gender couples invisible. So for us, the visibility is very important, as it is to Phillip Ruddock in hiding it. Sometimes we feel like the Negros in the U.S. in the 60s where they were paying full taxes but had laws restricting them participating fully in society- they were just made invisible as though they didnt exist as they eeked out their existence in suburbia. We have eeked out our existence with our children, totally invisible & unrecognised, paying not only equal taxes & charges, but is some cases more, than straight couples. Some instances were due to lack of knowledge.everyone knows whats involved with marriage etc, but with same gender couples you never know exactly what you are entitled to. We dont believe in separate civil unions, we believe in access to full equality to the existing infrastructure & systems that everyone is familiar with. That way if we are a de-facto couple we know exactly what we are entitled to, and if we decide to make the deep commitment of marriage, we know exactly what we are entitled to as well. Part of the problem with your Inquiry will be once you make recommendations for changes for access to benefits, is how do you communicate that out unless the relationship recognition is on par or equal with straight relationships. Our biggest worries at the moment are Superannuation, Medicare, and Societal Recognition of our relationship so that homophobia (which is basically fear of the unknown) is reduced as people start to see that we are all around, by us being allowed to have visibility of our relationships, not just the one-dimensional stereotypes of us always being single that the evangelical religions like to push (at the same time they fight tooth & nail to block any visibility of us being in relationships). SUPERANNUATION- we are specifically excluded from spouse co-contributions. The other thing is that the Interdependent Clause does not mention us by name, and so we dont feel that we can continue to rely on it covering us into the future when it can be so open to interpretation. This is a disgrace, and has made me decide to not put one extra cent of my own money into super. The other thing, is that where I work, you can enter your spouse details into the H.R. computer system, and it comes up with a message- invalid entry- spouse is same gender. Everywhere you look you feel like you are being treated like an unwelcome second class citizen, but expected to pay full taxes or in some cases more taxes than straight people. MEDICARE- this is another area where we are excluded by excludes same sex couples, and yet de-facto straight couples are classed as spouses. All four of us in the family have medical problems, but we cant pool our claims for the Medicare Rebate, and hence are forced to pay higher tax than straight couples for less rights. TERRORISM- the Federal Govt grudgingly says we are in an interdependent relationship for a second-class superannuation pay out, but falls short of specifying us by name (i.e. same sex couple), and so the superannuation interdependency law is open to interpretation & easy exclusion of us at a later date without changing the law. BUT.with the recent Terrorism Act, we are NAMED as same sex spouses, in some of the strongest language (and I didnt see any of the Extreme-Fringe Christian Groups protest against this!). This is a shocking outrage that there is no pussy-footing around here about interdependent etc, they cut to the chase & call us same sex spouses. We should be referred to as in the same way across all legislation, not pick & choose when to recognise us. The high level relationship recognition we receive in the terrorism legislation compared to our specific denial of our very existence in other laws is sickening. SOCIETAL RECOGNITION- There is so much talk about Christian Groups blocking same sex rights but it is often forgotten this it is only SOME groups that think this, NOT ALL. We belong to the Worldwide Metropolitan Community Church, who have branches in Parramatta & Petersham in Sydney, and around the country, and we chose to have our version of getting married with a Holy Union Ceremony performed there, whilst we signed up to the City of Sydney Relationship Declaration Program. One of us also changed our surname, so that all four of us including our children now have the same surname. This is common practise in some second-marriage straight families, and for us it shows the level of our committed relationship in an environment where our relationship is devalued by our current government while many other sister Commonwealth Countries such as New Zealand, Canada & the U.K. are moving ahead in leaps & bounds. Some people say leave marriage & gay rights as the status quo- but look around at the other countries moving ahead, and also look how marriage constantly evolves- once it was illegal for people from different ethnic races to marry. And, there is no proof that gay marriage has not been occurring through the ages- in fact it has, with many of the evidence overlooked or ignored (or worse, destroyed). The other thing is that some people say its not natural but same sex couplings can be seen in over 450 recorded species of animals, including mammals with larger brains than humans such as dolphins & Killer Whales. There has even been the famous case of the famous gay penguins this year at New York Zoo, who are a male same sex long term committed couple. But again, with no visibility, no-one sees or hears about all this. But above all- make no mistake Marriage in this country is a Civil Function. You can get married in a registry office. Add to that the issue that in fact many gay-friendly churches in Australia are READY to marry same sex couples right now, then access to civil marriage & its societal recognition should be granted immediately (along with equal access to federal de-facto recognition). to address & fix all same sex relationship discrimination in one fell swoop GOVERNMENT-CREATED HOMOPHOBIA. One thing that is of major concern is government-created homophobia in Australia. As many other sister-commonwealth countries are granting increased equal rights to same sex couples to participate as productive citizens, Australia is creating homophobia, depression & possible increased suicide, and invisibility to same sex couples, by creating uneccesary extra laws to write Extra Discrimination into law against us- such as the Ban on Recognising legal same sex marriages performed overseas, and the recent A.C.T. civil union ban. Its not so much what the new laws are actually banning, but the fact that they are even creating new laws to write extra discrimination into law against us in unforgivable. Every other civilised country is moving forward, but Australia is moving backwards. The overall effect of these extra uneccesary laws with new discrimination is to further alienate & de-motivate same sex couples to know what their real rights & entitlements areas the govt is still active in removing rights from them there is no certainty. This environment makes it harder for same sex couples to remain together & reaffirm their relationships, and many young gays in the bush feel alienated & invisible & turn to suicide. The couples who do have their relationships survive against the odds, lack of support, invisibility & discrimination are have a much more loving & committed relationship than many straight couples who may take their relationship or partner for granted. The evangelical groups want to use our government to alienate gays into staying single & want to have a complete blackout of visibility of any who do form loving relationships. This blackout of being able to be seen to have a wedding, or recognition at work, or on medicare forms, superannuation etc, etc, has put Australia into a rut, heading backwards while all other civilised countries are moving forward. I think that the answer to break out of this rut, is to look for overseas advice, say our next door neighbour New Zealand, where we could say propose adopting the laws of New Zealand if we cant get out of this rut to come up with our own. We have slipped so far backwards, that it cant be achieved on our own, we need to look to one of these other countries who have been moving forward, leaving us far behind, such as New Zealand, Canada, Spain, or the U.K. (remember its still a Union Jack on our flag, not the stars & stripes!). But instead we legislated extra discrimination into law to discriminate against people who marry in these various countries who then set foot in Australia. Why would we ignore & discriminate against the relationships of legal marriages & unions in other equally civilised countries including sister-commonwealth nations, and even the U.K. itself? RELIGIOUS RECOGNITION- Same sex marriages are performed by a number of religions overseas, but are restricted from doing so in this country due to government regulation- for example the MCC Church who, along with the Uniting Church regularly perform equal marriages/same sex marriages in Canada are restricted by Phillip Ruddock under threat of losing their marriage celebrant licence to only call it a Holy Union ceremony. The government is very paranoid & has sent out many recent directives to marriage celebrants much like the former leader of the Taliban sent out ad-hoc directives. This form of intervention & intimidation that is taking place without the knowledge of the general public is adding to the image that no religions support or perform same sex marriage, but this is not true. Its just that in this country their hands are tied. Even the 2DAYFM gay wedding in Sydney performed by the MCC Church almost didnt go ahead as people were afraid about government behind-the-scenes intimidation about renewal of marriage celebrant licences. The icing on the cake was when a recent directive was sent out to celebrants (again with no announcement to the general public) that the popular words partners could not be used in straight wedding ceremonies- the celebrant must say man & woman, with the intimation being that if they dont someone might dob them into Phillip Ruddock & their licence not renewed. Its all very cloak & dagger & murky stuff but it all got exposed on-air during the near-cancellation of the celebrity 2DAYFM gay wedding (that ultimately was just a Holy Union ceremony, performed by the MCC Church Parramatta). In Catholic Spain, Equal Marriage is now legal, and moves are underway in Italy and Ireland. The religious angle is often used to keep the status quo here & to then start writing extra discrimination into law against us.but why are we the only developed civilised country doing this? Look overseas to see how christian, and jewish religions, and moderate Islamic branches are embracing same sex marriage & the all important religious roadblock argument falls apart. Over 175 religious leaders have spoken out in favor of gay marriage rights in Canada.  HYPERLINK "http://www.365gay.com/newscon05/04/041005canDemo.htm" http://www.365gay.com/newscon05/04/041005canDemo.htm DONT CREATE NEW APARTEID LAWS FOR US- JUST START TO INCLUDE US IN CURRENT ONES- Dont re-invent the wheel, just amend existing laws to include us as equals, rather than how the current laws that go out of their way to specifically mention us by name as being excluded. We dont know of all the laws where we are discriminated against- just the ones we have come across ourselves as each situation arises in different stages of our lives. We did find the following list though on an same sex equality site ( HYPERLINK "http://www.pinkboard.com.au" www.pinkboard.com.au) that someone put together, so please include these as well, as there are so many laws that mention spouses that discriminate against us either by ignoring our existence or specifically mentioned exclusion. Many you just stumble across as something happens to you, and in the following list there are a large number of items that have already discriminated against us, or will in the future if they are not all changed to include same gender spouses- A New Tax System (Medicare Levy SurchargeFringe Benefits) Act 1999 A New Tax System (Goods & Services Tax) Act 1999 A New Tax System (Family Assistance) Act 1999 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Act 2005 Aged Care Act 1997 Bankruptcy Act 1966 Child Support (Assessment) Act 1989 Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 Crimes Act 1914 Defence Force Retirement and Death Benefits Act 1973 Disability Discrimination Act 1992 Evidence Act 1995 Family Law Act 1975 Health Insurance Act 1973 Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Act 1986 Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 Judicial and Statutory Officers (Remuneration and Allowances) Act 1984 Life Insurance Act 1995 Marriage Act 1961 Medicare Levy Act 1986 Medicare Surcharge Act 1986 Migration Act 1958 Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004 Military Superannuation and Benefits Act 1991 National Health Act 1953 Parliamentary Contributory Superannuation Act 1976 Parliamentary Entitlements Act 1990 Privacy Act 1988 Private Health Insurance Incentives Act 1998 Retirement Savings Accounts Act 1997 Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988 Sex Discrimination Act 1984 Social Security Act 1991 Social Security (Administration) Act 1999 Student Assistance Act 1973 Superannuation Act 1976 Superannuation Contributions Tax (Assessment and Collection) Act 1997 Superannuation (Government Co-Contribution for Low Income Earners) Act 2003 Tax Law Improvement Act 1997 Veterans Entitlements Act 1986 Witness Protection Act 1994 Workplace Relations Act 1996 Youth Allowance Consolidation Act 2000 Thankyou for this opportunity for us to make this submission, but please withhold our names & address as I dont wish to have it displayed to possible hateful fanatical evangelical fringe groups that this debate may unfortunately attract. Hopefully their possible ill-informed input will further highlight the need for separation of church & state especially in light of the many wonderful loving christian churches who fully accept & welcome same gender couples. 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