Dear Jason84,

I am not against gay marrige, polygamous marriage or heterosexual couple marrige. I don't feel government should be involved in marriage outside of enforcing contracts concerning property and seeing that children are treated well.

However, runner's point that we should not base our laws on what another country does is a valid one.

@Aime and david f

Regardless if you want to get married or not, Marriage should be an option for same-sex couples. And yes Im not a fan of marriage but it should be an option for gays and lesbians - thats where I stand on the issue.

If two people are silly enough to want to marry each other, what business is it of the State or anybody else?

Same old, same old - but it would be kind of good to see PM Gillard sticking to at least one principle by supporting gay marriage.

When someone clamours for something that has no value just for the sake of equality then we must wonder what their real agenda is. Do people like Rodney Croombe demand the right to have cancer just because the person next door has it?

Marriage adds absolutely nothing to any relationship. There are millions of heterosexual and homosexual couples who see no point in getting married because it adds nothing to their relationship. Many homosexuals claim that they want the rights that heterosexual married people have. What exactly are these advantages and are they really worth involving the government and other institutions in your relationship? Where does personal integrity come into it if you are prepared to sell your autonomy just for the sake of having something that someone else has? If you are getting married for these reasons then what does that say about your attitude to marriage – that it is something you go through just to get a few perks from the government? How would your partner know if you were marrying them out of love or just for the sake of petulantly taking advantage of something because you can.

The government should not be involved in these relationships at all and just because a government is does not make it right. Governments are involved in many things that they should not be. Those who support any kind of marriage obviously do not value autonomy and freedom from unnecessary government intervention.

There are no good arguments for legalising any relationship which is based purely on the fact that two people have sex with each other

What's the big deal about gays wanting to marry (or even co-habit)? Yeah right - a medieval ideology by the religious right about procreation, a habit the gays don't do so well at and what Righty believes will sabotage their agenda to breed like bloody rabbits!

@ Phanto:

"There are no good arguments for legalising any relationship which is based purely on the fact that two people have sex with each other"

Well Phanto, Im gay and I see my realtionship more than just sex, the sex is only a tiny part of the relationship. I see marriage as a great way to celebrate our love together and its a beautiful thing. It seems the government is sending a message saying that our long term relationships are worthless. The government wont even let me get married in some countries in Europe because in May 2006, the then Howard government attorney General Philip Ruddock blocked a gay Australian man from marrying in Europe. Ruddock refused to grant a gay man living in the Netherlands a 'Certificate of No Impediment to Marriage' document required by some European countries before marriage, to prove foreigners are in fact single. So if a same-sex couple moves to europe to live and start a life, they still cant get married even though where they are gay marriage is legal, Explain that?