According to Bozzie it's 'tough luck' if lesbians don't opt for 'the old fashioned way' or turkey baster. Surely. there's no sound reason lesbians shouldn't be able to access safe sperm which has been screened for HIV and other complications. Furthermore, most lesbian couples do not require complicated and expensive IVF treatments, just relatively simple and inexpensive artificial insemination.

On the age of consent issue: Technically, the age of consent for all sexual activity in in Qld is 16 years, except for anal sex which is outlawed until both participants (whether same sex or opposite) are 18. While wearing a veneer of equality, this anomoly in the law is clearly designed to show disapproval of gay people. In my book, the inequality alone is enough for this law to be reformed, but it also causes further complications in restricting young people's access to counselling and safe sex information. For example, the Qld Govt has just released a whizz-bang new website on safe sex information for school students, yet it fails to mention anal sex altogether. Surely this is like trying to educate people about malaria without mentioning mosquitoes. Get over it.

On Valentine's eve (February 13), gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people, their families and friends will stage a 'Love-In' protest against Qld's unequal age of consent at the Rose Garden in New Farm park from 1pm. The action is also supported by youth welfare groups, Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays and the Open Doors Youth Service, which specialises in helping at-risk LGBT youth

I find it interesting that the same people who supported Gallop's governments social reform program; which included committee's on this whole issue comprising entirely of homosexuals (who surprise, surprise had almost their entire list of wants legislated); are now the people jumping up and down scared that the majority of people may not agree with them... and heaven forbid those people's representatives gain power...
This is the same government that has been pushing a far more dangerous stance on drugs, sounds like it’s about time that they either get in touch with the majority of the populous, or get out of power.

Also nice to see a democrat saying something, I had this strange feeling there weren't any left anymore, but I can see why their jumping on the homosexual/ drug legalisation bandwagon, they really must be running out of ideas on how to try and stay more influential than family first...

I have no problem with any infertile woman accessing IVF. I haven't really thought about gay & lesbian access to the Family Court but I can't see why not if they were in a proper relationship for a number of years. There is no reason these things should be withdrawn and I'd be very surprised if the WA opposition did.

Well, Bozzie... that's exactly what they're going to do. Do you see now, why gay and lesbian people are a tad upset?

I'm appaled at the ignorance of some. Vincible ignorance I suspect.

What other people do with their private parts does affect me indirectly. The statistics show that, on average, gays have far worse mental and physical health than straights. This puts up my taxes and the downside spreads to more people by tolerating harmful behavours. So it is appropriate to discourage behaviour which is proven to be counterproductive, on average, to society.

Yes it is true that there are more straight individuals who abuse than there are gays who abuse. But this is misleading when we consider that the PROPORTION of gays who abuse is, according to statistics of both sexual and non-sexual violence, higher than the proportion of straights who abuse. This too affects me because abuse is detrimental to society and it raise my taxes and so I have a valid interest in laws to discourage counterprodcutive behaviour. If that's homophobia then homophobia is good and appropriate.

As I've documented elsewhere in other posts on this site, sex within marriage is proven, on average to be best for health, wealth, sexual enjoyment, and even safety from car accidents. And the stats show, on average, that religious marriage is better in these factors than non-religious marriage, that is in turn better than defacto marriage, which is better than divorce-remarrage which is better than same sex arrangements. So I would be remiss if I did not point out the such evidence so that people can make an informed decision and decide to not settle for less than the best.

Why have gays and lesbians this seige mentality?The rest of us couldn't give a rat's.Perhaps you lasiviate too much in your perceived oppression?