Marriage equality will have double the chance of getting debated by Parliament, with separate Bills from both Labour and the Greens going into the ballot for Members’ bills.
Louisa Wall and Kevin Hague have both submitted bills to achieve marriage equality that have been accepted into the members’ ballot, doubling the chance that one of them will be drawn.
“Public opinion polls show that more than twice as many New Zealanders support marriage equality as oppose it. It is now time to move to extend the state’s recognition of marriage to any couple who love each other,” said Labour Party MP Louisa Wall.
“Marriage equality is a right whose time has come. Marriages should be based on love not gender,” said Green Party MP Kevin Hague.
“Society is changing and the law should reflect the new social mood. People are more relaxed about same-sex relationships and want to accord full legal equality to same-sex couples,” said Louisa Wall.
“Whichever Bill is actually drawn from the ballot, we will be working together to support it and to gather other support from across the House,” said Kevin Hague.
“Marriage is a social institution and as contained in our civil law it is a basic human right,” said Louisa Wall.
“We are looking forward to the debate and are optimistic that full legal equality can be achieved in New Zealand,” said Kevin Hague.
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Whilst marriage “equality” is essential, it can never really be “equal” as long as religious organisations are exempt from marrying us. No other New Zealander is refused marriage due to sexuality. They may be refused due to religious belief, but so would queer kiwis.
So, you see, we’re discriminated twice, and that’s not “equal”!
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To be fair Stuart, religious groups discriminate against thousands of Kiwis. Atheists cannot get married by a religious group, people from other faiths cannot get married in a Christian Church and not all religious groups agree to perform interfaith marriages, etc. Freedom of religion is considered as significant as racial and sexuality equality. For example, churches legally continue to discriminate on the basis of gender. Equal access to civil marriage is all that any New Zealander is guaranteed in law. All other ceremonies are private.
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To be fair, David, I think you’ll find “all other ceremonies” are not “private”. They are exempt from marrying certain people due to an Act of parliament. In that respect, the whole business of who marries who is very public.
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