The Patterson Bill
One or two observations on the far right’s Patterson Bill.
Service providers (who are not a religious institution) are currently not exempt from anti-discrimination laws regarding discrimination on the grounds of sexuality or sexual orientation, or marital status. In that case, why should:
1. gay married men be protected when alone but not be protected if securing marriage services with their husbands
2. two gay men in a defacto relationship be protected from discrimination but cease to be so protected when they marry.
3. Why are supermarkets, pest exterminators, shoe repair stores and hairdressers etc not mentioned – surely they have as much right to discriminate as florists.
Acting on the views expressed by the significant majority of Australians in the postal survey, parliament will alter the Marriage Act 1961 to remove the stipulation that marriage must be between a man and a woman. Marriages consecrated according to religious rites will not in any way be affected. No religion or minister of religion will be required to officiate in a same sex wedding.
As to the proposal to enshrine the right of church schools to present a religious definition of marriage – hopefully Catholic school students have already been taught about the many distinctions between Catholic Marriage and Annulment, and Legal Marriage and Divorce. Surely Muslim schools have also taught students how the Civil law under the Marriage Act is different to Muslim marriage.
What the authors of the bill either overlook, or are ignorant of, is that Australians hold any number of concepts of what marriage is. The legal definition sets the parameters and essential conditions that everyone must meet to have their marriage recognised legally.
If the proposal is to teach that it is not marriage if it includes same sex couples, then perhaps the proponents need to stop and think clearly at least about polygamous biblical marriages, and how very different religious and legal definitions of marriage have been for at least the last 150 or so years.