You know what they say -- if you don't want to be humiliated for holding ridiculous views, then don't hold ridiculous views. Or at least, don't espouse them in public.

Whatever your cherished fantasies about the secret messages your personal Sky Fairy whispers to you in private, you should know that if you go public with them you will be asked for real reasons, just like a grown-up person. And if you can't supply them, too bad for you.

Jon J, was your post supposed to be giving a reason why 2 poofters should be able to be legally married?

Same-sex marriage should go to those same-sex people who want to marry.

Actually not. There is nowhere to go because same-sex marriage IS already in their hands.

No referendum is needed because same-sex people can ALREADY marry and need not ask for anybody's permission in doing so.

What a fool wants a piece of paper from a government official telling them "now you are married"? Don't they already know in their heart whether they are married or not?

"humiliation"? "ostracising"?

Nah. One could just as easily say Matt Prater asked a question seeking to humiliate Rudd, and just got a spirited robust reply.

Besides, the Bible's New Testament endorses slavery -

Colossians 3:22-25 (NIV)
22 Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; do it, not only when their eye is on you and to curry their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. 23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, 24 .. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

Ephesians 6:5-8 (NIV)
5 Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. 6 Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart.

1 Timothy 6 (NIV)
6 All who are under the yoke of slavery should consider their masters worthy of full respect, so that God’s name and our teaching may not be slandered. 2 Those who have believing masters should not show them disrespect just because they are fellow believers. Instead, they should serve them even better because their masters are dear to them as fellow believers

1 Peter 2:18-25 (NIV)
18 Slaves, in reverent fear of God submit yourselves to your masters, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. 19 For it is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God. 20 ... if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.

Titus 2:9-10 NIV)
9 Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, 10 and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.

"Same-sex marriage does lead to same-sex parenting and there is a huge issue in my view of the state sanctioning the idea that a certain class of children will be denied access to one or other of their biological parents."

Same-sex parenting is presently being practiced in Australia outside marriage! without legal protections for the children that marriage affords.

It is likely there are very few children that are being, or will be, "denied access to one or other of their biological parents".

Probably the same proportion as for heterosexual separations or divorces.

In his first posting McReal pointed out how most/all of these self-righteous Christians who are jumping up and down in faux angst in response to this storm-in-a-teacup "incident" are essentially Biblically illiterate and therefore very selective in the way that they thus defend their ignorance,their "morality" and pre-judgements on those who advocate a change in the previous politically enforced status-quo.
A status quo which is no longer culturally tenable as this essay points out:
http://www.adidaupclose.org/Crazy_Wisdom/freedomofchoice.html
The above essay was written in support of the thesis enunciated in the book by William Contryman titled Dirt Sex & Greed
Plus this essay describes how conventional marriages have almost nothing to do with love or truly adult emotional-sexual maturity.
http://www.adidaupclose.org/Crazy_Wisdom/anthony.html
Such emotional-sexual immaturity is thus passed on from generation to generation.
Thus creating the situation described here:
http://zakherys.tripod.com/greven.htm
Such being the way that the sins-of-the-fathers are inevitably beaten into the flesh of each new generation of children
Both of the above references feature a summary of the most intensive prolonged entirely non-squeamish and non-puritannical investigation into the all important matter of the emotional-sexual dimensions of our existence-being that has ever been done.