Tanya Plibersek Delivered A Passionate Speech To Young Gay Couples And The Children Of Same-Sex Parents
"Your families are just fine. We are proud of you. We are determined to ensure that your mums and your dads will be able to be married."
This week, the Coalition ruled out a conscience vote on marriage equality — taking a step backwards from a policy that most Australians support.
As Alex McKinnon wrote yesterday, it was “yet another example of the thwarted hopes, setbacks, delays, compromises and general nonsense proponents of equal marriage in Australia have had to put up with so far.” The debate has brought out the worst in some people, and the best in others.
Although it’s unlikely to happen under the current government, many Australians believe that marriage equality will inevitably become a reality — while others warn that the concept of ‘inevitability’ will stop groups fighting as hard as they need to. But one thing is for certain: every time a national leader speaks out against the right of same-sex couples to marry, the children of those couples suffer another punch in the guts. As Junkee’s Courtney Fry — a child of same-sex parents — wrote in March this year, “We need to correct the way we speak about same-sex parents, in order to remove the stigma that is burdening their children. As society progresses, so must the conversation, because it’s not fair for children to have to put up with the ignorance of others.”
It’s those children — as well as gay and lesbian young people — that the Deputy Opposition Leader Tanya Plibersek directly addressed in a short but passionate speech to the House of Representatives yesterday afternoon.
“It may be that you feel very disappointed. And it may be that you feel very let down. And it may be that you feel that you’ve been treated by this Parliament as second class citizens. And I want to say to you today that that is not true. There are many people in this place who defend your rights, and who will stand up to you,” she said.
“I also want to say to the children who’ve got two mums or two dads: Your families are just fine. We are proud of you. We are determined to ensure that your mums and your dads will be able to be married in the same way that the kids you go to school with have parents who are married,” she continued. “The fight for marriage equality is not over.”
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