The Times and Tales...

In exactly two months from today I will have a wife…and be a wife.

I will be a married woman.

2012…what a year this is going to be.

I don’t understand how one single human, and their henchmen, can deem it necessary and ok to make other humans feel unequal.

Australia basically led the world when it came to allowing women the right to vote over 100 years ago, and shortly thereafter allowed women to sit for parliament. Racism was abolished 35 years ago. People are no longer allowed to discriminate against people who relate to different religions either. Basically, long story short, under the 1986 Australian Human Rights Commission Act, every Australian citizen should be treated equally. But as we all know this isn’t the case. Racism is still alive and kicking, despite the Government attempting to stem it, just look at the Cronulla Riots of 2005. Obviously people get discriminated against everyday in this country but the Government has done its best to not allow this to happen, and for this, I applaud them. But why, after being so kind to every other Australian, can I still not get married?

I am an Australian citizen. My race or religion should not matter. But yet I cannot marry. Why? Because I am a lesbian, and apparently we would undermine the institution of marriage. The same institution of marriage that has already been undermined by heterosexuals who end up in a loveless marriage which then results in divorce. Current trends show that, in Australia, 1 in 3 marriages will end in a divorce. Just under half of these will occur in couples with children under the age of 18, which means each year there are around 50,000 children that experience their parents divorce.

Now, diverting slightly for a moment, in 2007 there were 163 million children orphaned in the world. In Australia, the adoption rate is rapidly decreasing. In the year 1971-72 there were 9798 children legally adopted in Australia. 35 years later, in the same year [2007-08] that 163 million children were orphaned, there were a mere 568 adoptions in our country.

So having said all that, why can’t homosexuals be granted a chance to provide a loving environment for any one of these orphaned children, those of which would otherwise be pushed from pillar to post, never having experienced the happiness that can be provided in a home by two loving, married parents? Now I’m not saying you have to be legally married to adopt a child, as there have been gay couples adopting children in Australia since 2007, but the fact still remains that these parents are not married and one member of a same-sex partnership may be classed as less of a parent than the other (co-parent). This is also not making the assumption that every married couple, gay or not, wants to have children, but who wouldn’t like to at least have the option? It has been proven in society time and time again that children of divorced parents are disadvantaged, socially, financially, and sometimes mentally, compared to their happily-in-love counterparts, so why shouldn’t homosexuals be granted the same opportunity to provide exceptional parenting to children who need it the most, whilst being married?

All homosexuals want is the same right to happiness as every other Australian citizen. Why can’t we give marriage a go and start a family with the ones we love, and provide a few of those orphans with a loving home? Maybe even reduce that number of children living in out of broken homes by 1 or 2, by providing a happy, healthy, and loving environment to grow up in.

On the 3rd of March next year I intend on getting as close to happiness as I can at this point in time, and my partner and I are having a “civil union” I think is the politically correct word for it. Everyone, us included, talk about it as our wedding, but every time the word “wedding” is mentioned I get a sinking feeling in my stomach. Why can’t our celebrant say to us “I now pronounce you wife, and wife”? Why won’t we have that marriage certificate hanging on our wall at home? Why can’t we just call it a damn wedding? No one can answer these questions because our Prime Minister, the one and only Ms. Julia Gillard, will not give a firm, nor direct answer without deflecting the question to talk about the things in our country that do treat us with some equality. As comforting as it is to know my partner will be taken care of if something should happen to me, in terms of insurance and such, and for Medicare purposes, superannuation, and even Centrelink, all of which class us as a couple, it is not explaining to me why I can’t get married.

So now to you Julia Gillard, I ask of you only a few things. Firstly, I would like to beg you to reconsider you stance on this issue and just allow people to be happy, the way that you’re allowed to marry and be happy if you choose to. I know that is a very long shot so secondly, I think that myself and the thousands of other homosexual people deserve to know why you deem it necessary to treat us as unequal, in what seems like the smallest way in the grand scheme of things. And finally, start listening to the general public. There is far more support from the public than ever should have been needed to allow homosexuals to marry.

I yearn to be married to the woman I love. Let our country join the rest of world in embracing their fellow human beings, regardless of who they love, just as we have done before in so many things which are now regarded as human rights. Please allow all Australians an equal right to happiness.

Yours sincerely,

Suzan Marsden.

Dear Ms Gillard,My name is Lauren Birch. I am 20 years old, born in Adelaide, and currently live in South Australia.

When I was growing up all I dreamt of was the day when my Prince Charming would ride up on his noble steed and carry me away to be married. I believed that dream would one day become reality until I was 13 years old…and I realised I wasn’t like the princesses you read about in fairytales. I realised that a Prince Charming wasn’t what I wanted. I wanted another princess. I wanted another woman. In doing extensive research I found that in Australia marriage is legally classed as ‘a union between a man and a woman’. I lost my hope, and my faith in my country.

Two years ago I met my soul mate…a beautiful woman called Suzan. Disregarding the Australian laws we are engaged to be married. I say married, even though in my heart I know that my country…my home…tells me that I must not call our union a ‘marriage’, but a ‘civil union’. It sounds bizarre, but I am a very traditional person. A ‘civil union’ is not the same as a ‘marriage’. When I hear people say ‘marriage’ I think of this wonderful thing…filled with love, commitment, and a family. A ‘civil union’ sounds more like a jail term.

I know that my fiance and I can travel to different countries and rightfully and lawfully exchange vows, but other countries are not my home. I don’t want to be married in some foreign land. I want to be married in my own country, on my own soil, in my own home.

Suzan and I are hoping to wed next year. I feel ashamed with myself to say that we are receiving a ‘civil union’, but that is all my country has to offer me. My personal values will be set aside so I can commit myself to the woman I love.

Sometimes I wish I was heterosexual. When I was younger it all seemed so simple. Now, as I have grown older…life seems to be full of complications. Complications which…in reality…should be as easy as “I do”.

Please Ms Gillard, I beg you to reconsider your view on homosexual marriage. Im not asking for money, fame, or power. All I want is the same happily ever after that is legally offered to my friends and family.

Thankyou for your time.

Kindest regards and best wishes,

Lauren K Birch, Lesbian, South Australia

First…Im Lauren. I guess that is all you will need to know…for now.

Second…Its taking longer than I thought for my GenY brain to comprehend the enormity of what this webpage is asking me to do…hopefully it becomes clearer soon.

And Last…My pasta just boiled over due to my annoyingly absurd curiousity at the new buttons and pretty pictures now flashing on my screen. Note to self…save the world from internet obsession.