Dear Josephus,

«However the LTBGT are by wanting the term "marriage" is so as to take legal action against anyone who refuses them services, IVF or employment.»

So that is a much broader issue - let's forget about marriage and the specifics of this particular pressure-group and see the big picture:

How come, a business owner, on their own private premises, is not allowed to decide whom they serve and whom they don't? I don't care about the owner's reasons (if any): forcing someone to serve another against their will is a form of slavery, it's utterly unacceptable.

(of course, if a business receives public/government support or privileges, that completely changes the picture, but I was referring to businesses that are completely private)

Had the law not interfered with the way private individuals choose to run their businesses, no pressure-group would ever consider such ugly schemes.

Refusing to serve someone because they are homosexual is utterly stupid, but it's not for government to punish that stupid person, but for the general public to shun, blacklist, boycott and ridicule such businesses.

Foxy:

They don't need the legal right to marry in Australia.

Phanto,

When did same-sex marriage become legal in
Australia?

Have I missed it?

Dear Foxy,

Please distinguish between state-recognition and legality:

To the best of my knowledge, same-sex marriage has never been illegal in Australia.

No Australian law (can anyone correct me please if I'm wrong?) ever forbade a priest/minister to conduct a religious ceremony which established the marriage of two people of the same gender.
At no point in Australian history would criminal charges be laid against either such couple or their celebrant.

Regrettably, for many years, charges could be laid if the above couple had sex, but that's a different matter, it's sad but it's separate from the act of marrying.

Yes, the state never recognised such marriages and still doesn't - but people's private relationships, as well as their religious affairs, ought never to have been the state's business anyway.

Dear Yuyutsu,

The right to marry is the one significant difference
between the legal treatment of same sex and heterosexual
relationships in Australia. Same sex couples do not have
the right to marry in this country.

Dear Foxy,

I agree that same sex and heterosexual relationships should be legally treated the same, I agree that this is currently not the case. The way to fix it, is for the state to become completely oblivious to such private individual matters and remove all references to private relationships from legislation.

Now you claim that "Same sex couples do not have the right to marry in this country":
I do not believe it - please show me where this is written in the law, please show me what criminal penalties are there for same sex couples who defy and break the law by marrying anyway, show me this if you can.