The real issue is intolerance

Statement of support to the Canberra civil union rally from the Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Rights Group, 29.4.06.

The Federal Government is obsessed with marriage.

It's obsessed with excluding same-sex couples from the right to marry and stigmatising them as second rate. 

It's obsessed with rolling the whole institution of marriage back into the nineteen fifties, not only by banning same-sex nuptials but by making straight marriage as traditional as possible.

The Federal Government is so obsessed with marriage that it's threatened to over ride the democratically-elected Government of the ACT and ban civil unions because it believes these unions will be "too much like marriage".

You're here today because you want to stop hate in its tracks.

You want the law to respect rather than demean same-sex relationships.

You want the people of Canberra to be free to make their own decisions, just like same-sex couples should be free to decide who they enter into solemn unions with.

And as you rally to defend your human rights, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Tasmania stand with you shoulder to shoulder.

Tasmania's relationship registry allows same-sex couples to secure all the same rights of married couples.

Has it undermined marriage? No.

Has the sky fallen in? No.

Has a registration scheme helped create a more tolerant and inclusive Tasmania from which all Tasmanians benefit culturally and economically?

Yes!

If the ACT Government's attempt to give equality and dignity to same-sex couples has sparked a row with the Federal Government, it's because of the Federal Government's prejudices.

If Jon Stanhope's proposed civil union law is inconsistent with anti-gay amendments to our national marriage law, it's because those amendments are unjust and should never have been enacted.

Never forget the real issue here is intolerance.

As governments jostle for position and the media spins new stories, never forget that we, and the Governments who care about our rights, are correct to demand full equality.

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Rodney Croome, on behalf of the members and supporters of the Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Rights Group.