Norfolk Island set to legalise gay marriage

#966 for broadcast on 2CH Sydney, 21 Sep 2014.

Norfolk Island, the self-governing territory of 2000 people off the east coast of Australia, is preparing to pass laws allowing same sex couples to marry.

A bill has been drafted in the nine-member Norfolk Island parliament to establish a separate scheme for same-sex marriages, taking pains to avoid using definitions drawn from federal marriage legislation, since that was a key reason why similar laws in the Australian Capital Territory were struck down last year by the High Court.

But the substantive arguments against legalising same sex marriage remain: a marriage celebrates the union of a man and a woman.

Those who oppose same-sex marriage do so because they respect the wisdom of hundreds of generations of human tradition, and care about the common good of future generations. As Sydney University Law Professor Patrick Parkinson said, “The question really is whether we value marriage enough to preserve its cultural meaning and distinctiveness.”

I’m Rod Benson for the NSW Council of Churches.