Philo, a marriage between a man and a woman doesn't discriminate against a gay... BUT you know this of course!

BUT likewise a gay couple getting married doesn't undermine marriage or heterosexuality!

My marriage didn't collapse when Elton John got married, the world didn't end, marriage wasn't undermined, I didn't turn gay, none of my family turned gay!

Why can't people just let gays marry and get over it?

The important things in marriage are two simple words ..LOVE & RESPECT!

If two people want to get married, with all the legal implications that incurs, then just let it happen.

There are too many much bigger issues to worry about, surely?

As for a conscience vote... Wouldn a person with a conscience, vote against a loving couple, who wish to get married, doing so?

A conscience vote may be the most appropriate way to determine an issue which is divisive and deeply held by supporters and opponents. I’d support a conscience vote if all parties agreed that their members had free choice. I hope that a fair number of Liberals (or perhaps small-l “liberals”) would vote in favour as well as Greens and many Labor members.

When 48 percent of homosexuals are in the divorce courts getting ripped off by some stuffed shirt judge, they will be yelling, "why didn't we listen, how could we have fallen for this"?

There is a really serious problem here however, that no one is even thinking of.

How will those same stuffed shirt judges possibly know which one to screw to the wall, when they can't tell which is wife, & which is husband?

They are obviously too dumb to work it out for them selves. I guess they'll have to ask the women's libbers, that's where they go for most of their advice now.

I can't believe this rubbish, you're all bl00dy mad!

What a rant. Civil rights? Human Rights? Everyone is getting so carried away with political correctness that even free speech is threatened. Enough is enough. Sometimes there is good reason to discriminate - an 8mm bolt won't screw into a 6mm hole, and a horse cannot mate with a cow (at least not productively). You may try to convince others that a mule is a camel, but you will only convince idiots, and prove yourself to be an idiot as well.

Cow's milk and goat's milk may both be milk, but they are not the same, and to label them the same would be fallacious and mischievous. So too, marriage is a productive consensual union between a man and a woman, recognised and legitimised in law. A de-facto relationship between a man and a woman is not recognised as marriage because the parties have not sought to have the relationship legitimised in law, by their own choice - in so many cases because they wish to avoid many of the complexities of divorce, should they choose to end the relationship, such as is their right. Marriage is more binding because of the social stability interests, and is so recognised in law accordingly. Union outside marriage is still frowned upon because of the same overall social stability interests. We may be a more open, permissive and tolerant society, but the majority still favours, prefers and needs the societal stability and assurances that marriage offers, and that marriage they see is between a man and a woman.

When you mess with marriage, you mess with the foundation of societal stability and assurance. So, please just go away and smoke your marijuana in peace, and leave the rest of us in peace.

Saltpetre
Your argument is completely circular – you define marriage as between a man and a woman, then conclude that same-sex unions cannot be marriages.

You purport to speak for the “majority” in holding that marriage should be between a man and a woman. Where is your evidence? Most polls I’ve seen suggest majority support for gay marriage, including this one:

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/lifestyle/alternative-census-reveals-the-real-oz/story-e6frf00i-1226111802140

Saltpetre,

Forget grass, I want whatever you're on. Union outside marriage isn't frowned upon and hasn't been for some time (save by grumpy old tories). If it was, commentators would use it as another stick with which to beat our much-maligned PM. The fact that they don't is pretty good indicator that most of society has moved past caring about folk shacking up together. In time, it will move past caring about whether or not gays get married. If this change causes the collapse of Western civilisation, I will cook and eat my own pancreas.