It is difficult to believe that the right of all
Australians to marry still arouses controversy
today. Most of us - (younger people in particular)
believe in the right of consenting adults who
want to marry, should be able to do so - if they so choose.

What could be fairer than giving everyone the
same opportunity to marry - if they so wish?

I suppose that all this fuss comes from the belief
that there is only one "right" form of marriage
and family form. Then naturally any change will be
interpreted as heralding the doom of the whole
institution.

It is important to recognise, therefore, that there is
an immense range in marriage, family, and kinship
patterns; that each of these patterns may be, at least
in their own context, perfectly viable, and above all
that the family, like any other social institution, is
changing through time, in our own society and in others.

A conscience vote for politicians should be allowed.
And a Referendum for the public on this issue could
be the way to settle this matter.

Suse,

It is discrimination against those that hold that their marriage to a person of the opposite sex is demeaned by same sex marriage.

Changing the law is discrimination against such people.

Foxy,
Wrong, there's never been a range of different definitions for marriage, that's only been under discussion for a few years.
The goal of the Gay movement has always been the destruction of the family, for Pete's sake it's the first point in their manifesto and there's a whole section on monogamy as being inimical to homosexuality:
http://legacy.fordham.edu/halsall/pwh/glf-london.asp
"COMPULSIVE MONOGAMY. We do not deny that it is as possible for gay couples as for some straight couples to live happily and constructively together. We question however as an ideal, the finding and settling down eternally with one 'right' partner. This is the blueprint of the straight world which gay people have taken over. It is inevitably a parody, since they haven't even the justification of straight couples-the need to provide a stable environment for their children (though in any case we believe that the suffocating small family unit is by no means the best atmosphere for bringing up children."

Cont:
"Monogamy is usually based on ownership-the woman sells her services to the man in return for security for herself and her children-and is entirely bound up in the man's idea of property furthermore in our society the monogamous couple, with or without children, is an isolated, shut-in, up-tight unit, suspicious of and hostile to outsiders. And though we don't lay down rules or tell gay people how they should behave in bed or in their relationships, we do want them to question society's blueprint for the couple. The blueprint says 'we two against the world', and that can be protective and comforting. But it can also be suffocating, leading to neurotic dependence and underlying hostility, the emotional dishonesty of staying in the comfy safety of the home and garden, the security and narrowness of the life built for two, with the secret guilt of fancying someone else while remaining in thrall to the idea that true love lasts a lifetime-as though there were a ration of relationships, and to want more than one were greedy. Not that sexual fidelity is necessarily wrong; what is wrong is the inturned emotional exclusiveness of the couple which students the partners so they can no longer operate at all as independent beings in society. People need a variety of relationships in order to develop and grow, and to learn about other human beings.

It is especially important for gay people to stop copying straight-we are the ones who have the best opportunities to create a new lifestyle and if we don't, no one else will. Also, we need one another more than straight people do, because we are equals suffering under an insidious oppression from a society too primitive to come to terms with the freedom we represent. Singly, or isolated in couples, we are weak-the way society wants us to be. Society cannot put us down so easily if we fuse together. We have to get together, understand one another, live together.

Two ways we can do this are by developing consciousness-raising groups and gay communes."

Joy of Melb -you sure know a lot about the gay community for a straight man. Are you sure you are batting for your preferred team?

Foxy, it is certainly a case of frightened people not understanding the world of today and clinging to the old days of homophobia. They must all live in a hate filled void.

Is Mise, if anyone feels their own marriage would be affected in any way by gay people being able to get legally married, then they most certainly don't have very good marriages in the first place!