Once again we see in the comments the attempts to rationalise unfounded ideological positions. Diver Dan tells us that penises are keys and vaginas are locks, or something, and that you can't have two keys in a house. I have about eight keys hanging up in the kitchen, Dan -- what kind of pervert does that make me? Then we get 'it's all about the children' from Bill Shorten and Philo, although as far as I know neither of them has ever lifted a finger to lobby for or promote child welfare in any other way, shape or form. Funny how 'the children' only become important when gay marriage is on the cards, isn't it?

I actually agree with Yuyutsu in principle: in an ideal world the state -- and still more the church - would have nothing to do with your personal life as long as you stay within the law and don't frighten the horses. But we are a long way from an ideal world, and until we get there it is gracious and civilised to allow our fellow-citizens -- who pay the same taxes and rates, after all -- to share equally in the limited rights that the state sees fit to give us.

As for 'think of the children!', I understand that poor children, for instance, are sicker, more likely to come from broken homes and more at risk of abuse than rich ones. Which of our brave commentators is going to stand up and say that marriage between poor people should be banned for that reason?

Governments have finally found a way to tax love.

Their private school layer clique buddies and a Coonan media-for-hire that sets the standards of what love is (see dreadful Home & Away assignations) have upped the divorce rates of ALL I-do partnerships. And that means property transfers, stamp duties, endless court fees and more dead-end GST paying children spending money in place of love and affection.

Governments are Cock a Hoop. But single parents are paying through the nose and ultimately shunted out of the system into powerlessness. Which is where a Government that pays lip service to families wants them so they can immigrate better souls and skills in their place. This in a false bid to build a NATION that by definition has lost all propensity to love.

Take the faux demographer Bernard Salt who is public enemy #1 in over immigration. When HIS overpopulation creates extreme competitive tension, and a natural loss of manners, he calls for vigilante groups to hound the people he has forced into the competitive fray. The evil is akin to German Brownshirts of WWII. In the end it promotes a National Socialist meltdown that in history has never proven durable.

Don't say I-do. You are just playing a broken westminster Government system game of nihilism. Enjoy relationships for what they are as they come and go. And go easy on having children. Deny the Government its GST and run the bastards out of town.

A nauseatingly obsequious piece, full of conservative youthful idealism, presumptuousness and presumably a lingering post-coital state of bliss--"The human rights of saying "I do". Ick, I can't stand it!
There are no "human rights"! What rubbish is this? Human hubris! Rhetorical nonsense! What are they vested in?
<Australia is a liberal democracy that prides itself on the equality shared among its citizens> Revolting! Australia is a colonial "democracy" rofl, full of itself over the fantasy of "equality shared among its citizens". Is this kid for real! Even the queers are nationalist pussies these days! They want to get married.. Pathetic! Tomorrow's blue stockings!
A truly stomach-turning piece.
Graham should be awarding an ignoble prize for this one!

Jon J,
The fact is My wife has fostered 153 neglected or abused infants taken by DOCS and placed into our care. I am on the Board of a Foster Carer Administration and my wife now an assistant acessor for requiting carers.

The biological reality is that male sperm was designed or evolved to fertilize the female ovum; it was never designed to be deposited into another human anus. Until someone can explain the biological purpose of the female ovum in a same sex relationship other than to form another human child, then biological reality is being denied by the same sex lobby.

"The biological reality is that male sperm was designed or evolved to fertilize the female ovum; it was never designed to be deposited into another human anus."

Philo, well you have to decide if you believe it is designed or evolved. If you believe in creation, then god created same sex couples and thus we should accept this as biological reality. If we evolved, then evolution has resulted in a proportion of same sex couples, and thus we should accept this as biological reality.

How you manage to use you logic to arrive at the opposite conclusion just shows the extent of your prejudice.

"The biological reality is that male sperm was designed or evolved to fertilize the female ovum; it was never designed to be deposited into another human anus."

This only looks at a piece of the Evolution Jig Saw.
Another equally important piece is that OVERPOPULATION & especially breeding beyond a certain quality of environment and resources, leads to stress hormonal changes that promote deviant behaviours and WAR. This too is a natural phenomenon. Its called survival of the fittest.

But given a level of consciousness that abhors WAR and violence I suggest that changing the roles of women in society to be more equal but to include a law to have far fewer children is a necessary condition.

Otherwise we are just BARBARIANS and have no right to judge any other abnormal stress related human conditions.

War, breeding and immigration are HISTORICALLY a cyclic group. Anyone who believes WWII can never happen is in total delusion and therefore deserves to face the ugly consequences. There are ways expressed above to lower the overpopulation stress and avert war. These may also include imprisonment for those who short-term profit by promoting population Growth over SUSTAINABILITY.