JAN Morris’s letter (The NDL, Saturday) attacking the plebiscite for same-sex marriage changes misses the substance of the issues.
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Marriage is much more than an arrangement between “two people who love each other”.
It is the “natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the state” (Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 16.3).
As such, it is the concern of all of society: law, economics and social matters, and any changes will have fundamental effects on us all.
All of us, not just the small number of politicians from a narrowly based social background, must be given our say before any changes are introduced.
The plebiscite is not “a criminal waste of our money”, it is our right to decide.
The specific authority of churches, and any rights they might have, are already under attack in Tasmania, where Archbishop Julian Porteous has been brought before the Tasmanian anti-discrimination board.
All Porteous has done is to publicise his church’s long-held view on marriage.
Overseas, this is now a common conflict where marriage definitions have been changed.
The conflicts have spread widely into health provision, schools, employment and legal institutions.
Ms Morris insists same-sex marriage is “no skin off their noses”, so who is generating the discussion?
It is not the general community, which is just going about its usual business. It is interesting that Victoria has already organised “a gender and sexuality commissioner” to help enforce the changes being anticipated.
Ms Morris asserts that there “are lots of laws being changed all the time and nobody asks, or cares, what we think”.
True, but most of these laws do not affect all of us at any time, nor do they seek to change our most fundamental understandings of who and what we are – as individuals and as a society.
Same-sex marriage is not about “sex” – what we are naturally: male, female, intersex.
It is totally about “gender”: a human psychological construct describing how we identify ourselves in relation to sex.
We need the plebiscite to decide where we, as a society, wish to go.
Bruce Watson
Kentucky