Kirby in support of gay marriage
GAY High Court judge Michael Kirby has backed same-sex marriage in Australia, urging "equal justice under law for all".Revealing he had considered and rejected the idea of marriage with his own partner of 38 years, Johan van Vloten, Justice Kirby yesterday questioned the Howard Government's laws that define marriage as specifically between a man and a woman.
As the ACT pushes ahead with plans to reintroduce laws offering "civil partnership" ceremonies for same-sex couples, Justice Kirby said the legal discrimination that flowed from the ban was "hurtful" and represented "dog whistle" politics.
"It is a source of puzzlement to Johan and me, as we go about our tranquil lives, that there are many fellow citizens - some of them well educated and very important - who seem to be threatened and upset by such relationships and who feel the need to discriminate against them by laws enacted or unenacted by our nation's parliaments," he said.
"It is (about) whether a secular civilian status of marriage under law should be denied to other citizens whose sexual orientation or identity makes it impossible and wrong for them to go through marriage with an opposite-sex partner just to keep up appearances or to make their families and society happy.
posted by iamgay @ 8:50 PM
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