Same-sex rights have become a big political issue lately with the Federal Government opposing changes to laws allowing homosexual couples to take formal marriage vowels.
It seems this debate is as much about the use of the word marriage as equal rights. Gay and lesbian groups think everyone should have access to the traditionally religious ceremony but some people think it should be reserved for the heterosexual only.
Sharon Dane and Glenys Quinlan are on opposite sides of on the same-sex marriage debate. Ms Quinlan is from the Australian Christian Lobby group. She says changing the meaning of marriage from a union between a man and a woman would destroy a tradition which forms the fabric of society. But Ms Dane, a same-sex couples researcher at the University of Queensland, says to exclude one group from marriage is a form of discrimination.
Hear the debate < Same-sex marriage – the experts MP3 >
To find out what this means to people in society we spoke to a same-sex couple who want to get married and a traditional heterosexual couple who have been married for more than 25 years.
Petrea and Teresa are a same-sex couple living just north of Brisbane who want to get married but the current Australian laws prevent a formal union. Mr and Ms McBryde have been married in a traditional heterosexual relations ship in which they have raised four children.
They tell their story < Same-sex marriage- the people MP3 >
But there’s another group who may be affected by this issue – kids. Mr McBryde expressed his concerns about the lack of a traditional mother and father figure in same-sex parenting arrangements. He wanted to know more about how this would effect the kids who are raised in a same-sex environment.
Dr Donna McAuliffe is a human services researcher at Griffith University and a same-sex parent. She thinks parenting can be flawed from bigger issues than having two mums or two dads. She says it is more important to have caring parents than a traditional family unit.
“Research shows very clearly that children thrive and grow because of the way they are raised, not the genetic blood links that they might have,” she said.
Hear the full story < Same-sex parents and kids MP3 >
