Her Culture Bi-Monthy Magazine August/September 2015 | Page 27

H

ow different are people of the LGBT

community to us? Why do we love to hate the
chance of them gaining equality through law?
For some, same-sex couples are considered
different because they don’t abide by their
religious laws. But, for many of us, they are
individuals, just like us.
In the recent American Supreme Court decision
to legalize gay marriage, an uproar of threats to
move to Canada echoed across Twitter over
such a monumental moment for the LGBT
community. For Australia, chaos ensued as the
Prime Minister indicated he wouldn’t follow
Obama or the Supreme Court’s footsteps due
to his values. Whilst it was disheartening to read
these tweets, they all shared the same root
cause: marriage should only be a union
between a man and women. No other type of
sexual orientation.
Many Christians believe homosexuality is not a
natural cause and disintegrates the family unit
because it doesn’t produce biological infants.
“Marriage brings forth a family unit in society.
Any honest person who has grown up with
neither parent or one parent will admit this
adversely affected their upbringing,” said Sunita
Pala, an Australian who currently doesn’t
support the Australian Labor Party’s bill
legalizing gay marriage. “As more and more
children grow up in broken families, mental
health issues and crime will increase”.

27

For Christians, it is hard to comprehend how
two fathers and two mothers will work out
because it goes against the Bible’s definition of
a marriage. Some feel that legalizing same sex
marriages allows same-sex partners to deprive
their adopted children of their rights to seek out
their biological parents. Basically, conservative
Christians argue that same-sex marriages will
deconstruct a family unit.
Those who support same-sex marriage feel that
equality for same-sex marriages transcends
religious beliefs. “I think it’s more about a legal
partnership where they’re offered the same
legal rights as a heterosexual couple,” said
Tarryn Coward, an Australian student currently
pursuing environmental science at Murdoch
University. “There’s been a lot of propaganda
and anti-gay beliefs indoctrinated into our
society that can be changed with time. It’s a
matter of changing these embedded
ideologies.”
Tarryn’s idea of same-sex couples experiencing
legal issues is true. Although Australian state
and federal laws, like Victoria’s Statute Law
Amendment Act, allow same-sex couples to
have the same property, parental and estate
rights like their heterosexual counterparts, they
don’t allow same-sex couples to get married or
adopt children according to FindLaw Australia.
This causes inequality for same-sex couples
because they seek to create the same family
unit as heterosexual couples; a family unit with
kids. This can’t be done without Australia
following in America’s footsteps and legalizing
same-sex marriage law.