Marriage Equality Amendment Bill today

This parliamentary bill gets it's first reading/vote today.. If passed it goes to a second reading and select committee work-over...

The religious are generally against this amendment on the grounds that it breaks the sanctimony of marriage.  That marriage between a man and a women is the domain of god and while enshrined in law as being more than that it is still a religious institution first and foremost.

No surprise if you guess that I'm not supporting the religious argument.

One thing they do have right is the acknowledgement that marriage has become more than a religious ceremony.  It is now a state ceremony and it's definition has ramifications in law and society.  This amendment (if passed in to law) will have the effect of gathering in a part of our society that is excluded.  In other words we have legal and societal conditions that create a 2nd tier within our country and I happy to see this form of bigotry extinguished.