Same Sex Marriage Postal Survey (Australia)

[Brumby]

I have no fundamental problem with gay couples being given legal recognition - but what does concern me is the risk of "over-compensation" that may appear - such as the Oregon marriage wait time - and other concessions that will disadvantage non-gay couples.

This question comes from the "No" campaign where people from other countries presented issues such as school curriculum imposts that were promoting gay agendas.  If there was an equivalent that promoted hetero agendas, then I might concede an argument exists for doing so - but there never has been any hetero curriculum of which I am aware.

Can anyone tell me: What is the basis for these claims?  Is there any truth in them or are they just scaremongering?

[BradC]

On the whole it's mostly scaremongering. There are some valid outliers in the hysteria but most of the issue appears to be with a proportion of the population that still believes people choose to be gay.

Edit for autocorrect booboo.

[Nusa]

People should have a right to do what they want when it comes to marriage. Now with that said, I have to say this, and I'm still angry about it.....

When Oregon passed the same sex marriage law a couple years ago....this is what they did, and it really made me angry.

The day the law went active, they allowed the marriages to proceed that day. You could go down and get a license, and get married the same day....IF you were gay.

Now, this meant that straight people STILL had to wait the standard 3 days after filing the marriage certificate to get married before a judge, priest, family, and friends.

That was F'ing wrong. That gave the gay people more rights then straight people. That really pissed me off. 

To me, now, it tells me that if you are a minority (Gay, Trans, Bi, Mexican, Australian, whatever), you have more rights than a non-minority here in the US. You get 'special' privileges that a non-minority would not normally get. That's f'd up in my opinion. Equal rights....my ass!

Actually, that's a spin on the truth, although it obviously makes a good story for riling people up.

The truth is that judges and county clerks in Oregon had, and still have, the ability to waive the 3-day waiting period "for good cause", even before the law change.

There's also the flip side to that story, which are the handful of county clerks or judges that initially refused to marry gays in Oregon, even after the law changed to allow it.

Bottom line is the new law wasn't biased toward certain groups, it's some of the people implementing and/or resisting change that are the short-term issue.

I'm sure AU will have it's share of such stories as law meets reality. People are people, after all.

[Brumby]

The truth is that judges and county clerks in Oregon had, and still have, the ability to waive the 3-day waiting period "for good cause", even before the law change.

Fair enough.  After waiting for years (potentially) that would qualify as "good cause" to waive the 3-day wait, in my book.

[Falcon69]

thats the way i heard it on the news and thats why i'm pissed. i didnt know about the judges waiving the 3-day rule. but in either case....i guess every single gay couple that day had 'special circumstances' that got the 3 day wait period waived for them, and them only.

[Dubbie]

What the heck is "Promoting Gay Agendas"?
I'm pretty sure it is only closeted authoritarian theocrats who believe that heterosexual people can be peer pressured or otherwise convinced to turn gay.
They think that because they themselves are desperately trying to suppress their homosexual thoughts, that everyone else is the same way.
Its no coincidence that eventually most of these types are eventually caught with rent boys or similar.

[cdev]

In the grand scheme of things, on the scale of importance, human rights are important, and the arguments that some people put forward against them are a zero.

Whats better, people marrying one another, or killing one another? I know which one I would prefer to see. As somebody who grew up protected from but later, being hurt deeply by a similar, quite cruel kind of discrimination - against children of unmarried parents, I know what thats like and its utterly evil. It's changed my outlook on life.

Who cares what people's sexual orientation is? It really doesn't matter - what matters is how somebody is to other people.

Really, we're all in this (planet) together. I am very happy for Australia.

[timb]

When gay marriage was legalized here in the US, I heard some pundit on Faux News trying the old “Slippery Slope” argument. He basically said gay marriage will eventually lead to people marrying horses, dogs and even toddlers. Seriously. I just don’t understand the logic; it literally broke my brain for the rest of the day, trying to figure out how someone can get from marriage between two consenting adults to horses. I just... What?!

Anyway, I’m glad to see Australia is joining the growing list of countries with proper marriage laws!

By the way, this isn’t just good news for gays and lesbians, but also bi individuals as well!

[mrpackethead]

When gay marriage was legalized here in the US, I heard some pundit on Faux News trying the old “Slippery Slope” argument. He basically said gay marriage will eventually lead to people marrying horses, dogs and even toddlers. Seriously. I just don’t understand the logic; it literally broke my brain for the rest of the day, trying to figure out how someone can get from marriage between two consenting adults to horses. I just... What?!

Anyway, I’m glad to see Australia is joining the growing list of countries with proper marriage laws!

By the way, this isn’t just good news for gays and lesbians, but also bi individuals as well!

Did i read that someone in america married a railway station? 

[Cyberdragon]

^ OH MY, what's wrong with her breasts?! Did some implants melt?

Nevermind...moving on...

When gay marriage was legalized here in the US, I heard some pundit on Faux News trying the old “Slippery Slope” argument. He basically said gay marriage will eventually lead to people marrying horses, dogs and even toddlers. Seriously. I just don’t understand the logic; it literally broke my brain for the rest of the day, trying to figure out how someone can get from marriage between two consenting adults to horses. I just... What?!

Dangit, you beat me to referencing that bullshit!

[EEVblog]

I know political threads can get de-railed rather fast but I'm hoping this one stays civil (and Dave lets it slide).

I won't let it slide, please no off-topic stuff like this on here.
Thread locked.