Marriage Equality Bill 2009

I was forwarded this email today:

 
Submissions on the Marriage Equality Bill 2009 close 28 August!
 

You may have read our recent VoxPoint article on the Greens' Marriage Equality Bill 2009.  It would delete the words "a man and a woman" from the definition of marriage in the federal Marriage Act, replacing them with "two persons".
 
If passed, the bill would allow two men, or two women, to "marry".  It would radically change what marriage means in Australia.
 
The Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee is holding an inquiry into the Marriage Equality Bill, and FamilyVoice Australia has made a comprehensive submission opposing it.
 
But homosexual and lesbian groups are flooding the inquiry with submissions in support of the bill.  We need thousands of submissions opposing the bill.
 
Can you help?
 
All you need to do is send a short email by Friday 28 August to: legcon.sen@aph.gov.au .
 
In the subject line at the top, put "Marriage Equality Bill".  In the email itself, write your message.   It can be detailed, or very simple, such as:
………………………….
To the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee
 
I oppose the Marriage Equality Bill 2009 because it would completely change the meaning marriage has had throughout history.  Marriage is vital for raising children, who need both a mum and a dad.
 
Include your name and street address, with postcode.
 
Click "send".
………………………


This is the email I sent off to the Senate Committee:

To the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee
 
I am writing to express my opposition to the Marriage Equality Bill 2009.  I do so as a Christian who is concerned both for the significance of marriage and for my concern for the rights of same-sex couples.  Marriage is the foundation of families where children can be raised by both a mother and a father.  I was raised in a single parent family following the death of my mother when I was a child.  I know first hand what I have lost through the loss of my mother.  My sister raised her first daughter through the early years of her life as a single mother.  I know from my relationship with both my sister and my niece of what they lost through the absence of a father in that family.  There is no value judgement involved here - both my own, and my sister's experience of family were good, but they were not ideal and there was a loss involved.  The Marriage Equality Bill would institutionalise this loss of a mother and a father for Australian children.

My Christian faith leads me to both argue for the preservation of marriage as the union between a man and a woman, and to argue for the safe-guarding of legal and economic rights of all Australian citizens irrespective of sexual preference.  The Marriage Equality Bill appears to me to be seeking to preserve the latter by discarding the former.

Therefore I would urge the Committee to reject the proposed bill.

Sincerely...

FYI