What we're talking about

Troy on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' I have seen this family fighting day after day for months trying to get their kids/siblings back home. The dedication and ... more
Pauline on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' DHS have destroyed my own family. They failed in their duty of care to provide a baby moniter for the deaf , thousands of ... more
Christine on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' isn't it funny how DHS don't recognise the psychological effects of domestic violence on children and continue to allow ... more
Warrior princess on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' There is a family In the Cairns Area who are Foster Carers.Atherton Child Safety have threatened the carers and own ... more
duncan on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' i have spent time with this family. it is a house full of love. "mum", grandfather and older sblings.this cannot be an issue ... more
Tracey on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' Family Law is different from the rest of the law in this country.. Ie. Family Law is based on probability: ie if it might ... more
carol annetta on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' having known this family for some time i am disgusted with the treatment she has received. it seems more of a witch hunt ... more
Maureen Hillary on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' Derryn,I have counselled traumatized parents as a result of DHS staff.There are great staff workers who care but they ... more
Janet Tavener on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' I am a visitor to this country.My attention was drawn to the case of these children and their foster mother by a relative of ... more
sam on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' Happening in Tasmania also.Wewon a court case over 8 months ago and due process still hasn't been done.We spent 17,000 ... more
Anne Glover on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' I just cannot believe what the DHS has put the Foster Mother, and the children through - I thought the DHS was supposed to ... more
Tracey on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' DHS are the most disgraceful organization I have ever had the displeasure of becoming involved with. They are so ... more
Vicki on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' Hi Derryn,I have known this carer since primary school, she has always put others above herself. Being a carer myself I know ... more
Gran'ma Pam on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' As any of us with any sense know, these children should NEVER have been taken from this lady (mum) in the first place, they ... more
Dominic Lombardo on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' I see my daughter every six months DHS are conducting a vendetta against me I have not been told why I can only see her ... more
cassy houghton on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' Hello Derryn,Firstly i would like to thankyou for your support and the willingness to help this beautiful family.I ... more
Warrior princess on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' Im a carer also in Qld. I see this happen way too much from our Government. They are starting to use Carers own children as ... more
paul on "I'll pay the fee," says Hinch I believe what Liberal Party has done is stupid. But I feel for candidates like Joh Bauch and James Buonopane who want to ... more
Andrea on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' Why are these public servants allowed to blatantly flout the law without the same consequences the rest of society faces? I ... more
birth mother on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' i am the birth morther of these 4 children and i just want to say dhs dont care they just want the kids in care so they can ... more

Gay marriage debate fuelled by PM

Posted by: Derryn Hinch | 1 July, 2010 - 5:25 PM

PLAYING NOW: Hinch and Rodney Croome discuss the gay marriage debate after Julia Gillard's comments sparked a new wave of discussion, including from celebrity Ruby Rose (pictured).

HINCH EDITORIAL: Now let me get this straight. And, I guess straight is the operative word.

Our new Prime Minister is an atheist. She doesn’t believe in God. But yesterday on radio Julia Gillard was talking about the sanctity of God-blessed marriages and she opposes gay people living in matrimony. Sounds hypocritical to me. And adding to that she lives with her partner Tim Mathieson. A condition that the church would quaintly describe as ‘living in sin’.

I wonder, if the hairdresser Ms Gillard lives with had been female, if her views would be different? And where does Penny Wong stand on this? A Cabinet member who has less civil rights than her colleagues.

Prime Minister Gillard said: ‘We believe the Marriage Act is appropriate in its current form, that it’s recognising that marriage is between a man and a woman’.

This comes on the same day that the female Prime Minister of Iceland married her female partner. And in Mexico City, capital of a fiercely Catholic country, same sex marriages and adoption by same sex couples have been legal since March of this year.

In the United States some states now recognise same sex marriages but those controversial laws have been rolled back by referendum in places like California. The issue will be back on the ballot in November.

Close to home the Labor-dominated government in Canberra legalised same sex marriages but was over-ruled by the Federal Government – the way the Howard Government blocked voluntary euthanasia in the Northern Territory.

I’ll admit I was an opponent of gay marriages for years. Followed the ignorant, blinkered, almost homophobic, line without thinking it through. Marriage was only for men and women - because that’s just the way it was.

Forget the fact that loving relationships between same sex couples, lasted as long, if not longer, than traditional marriages – despite couples swearing before God ‘til death us do part’.

Perhaps, indicatively, it took two women friends, heterosexual friends, to convince me that my attitude was bigoted, irrational and discriminatory. And such discrimination is really illegal because you cannot discriminate on the grounds of sex, religion or race.

Prime Minister Gillard says that her government (and Kevin Rudd’s government before her) had taken steps to equalise treatment for gay couples over things like social security benefits.

But she is not going to scare the voters, especially the religious Right, by advocating anything more than that.

And the Liberals and Nationals are even more locked in. After all, Tony Abbott has admitted he feels ‘threatened’ by homosexuals.

The only encouraging thing for gay people is that they know their day will come. Equality will prevail. One day.

Remember, how many blacks living in Georgia in the 1960s could even dream of a Barack Obama in the White House right now.

Lunchbox/Soapbox: The Case for Gay Marriage (Rodney Croome)
The Wheeler Centre Auditorium, 12:45PM - 1:15PM, Thursday 08 July 2010, FREE no bookings required

Blog comments

The Majority of Australians want Gay Marriage to be legalised, so obviously Julia isnt speaking for the Majority!
Owell, Gay marriage will eventually be legalised whether you like it or not.
Hopefully very soon.

Jack Wednesday 11 August, 2010 - 11:34 PM
I hope Jason and the lot pack up and leave us alone. There is enough depravity and abomination around. Anyway they deserve you in the UK.

KevinM Saturday 10 July, 2010 - 12:31 PM
Julia,don'tBtaken in by theNORMAL label put on so many.I am GAY i am capable of loving the partner i choose in life NO MATTER WHAT anyone else says. I standby, i support, i will marry if allowed the person i adore.Do U oppose this?R U taken in by the christian need 2 B"normal" when "normal" is so varied. Derin U R so RAtINGS BURDENED!!!!! GEt OVER IT! Stop panting after opinion polls. GET WITH THE REAL feelings of US all!! JULIA WE R RELYING ON U!!

leakybutterfly Thursday 8 July, 2010 - 8:03 PM
Im gay. If I wanted to leave Australia for good and start a life in Europe I would probably still be banned from getting married even though that particular country in Europe has legal gay marriage. In May 2006, Attorney General Philip Ruddock blocked a gay Australian man from marrying in Europe. Ruddock refused to grant a gay man living in the Netherlands a 'Certificate of No Impediment to Marriage' document required by some European countries before marriage, to prove foreigners are in fact single. Under Ruddock's instructions, no such documents were to be released to gay and lesbians individuals intending to marry overseas.

Jason Thursday 8 July, 2010 - 5:32 PM
The most important thing that you have failed to pick up on is that the prime minister is representing the majority on this issue. Makes a welcome change to the vocal minority always getting their way.Normal people rule ok!!

NEIL Wednesday 7 July, 2010 - 4:22 PM
Gerard you state that you don't have a problem with Gay people, but if you have Gay marriage that it will be "inviting all the other weird stuff in the world" Gerard are you calling gay people weird? Both of your statements fly in the face of one another!
As for comparing gay marriages to people marring their horses or by inviting incest by having Fathers marry their Sons or Mothers marring their Daughters is ridiculous and you seriously need to wake up and get a life.
At least here in Australia when people get married is is because they love each other and want to spend their lives with their soul mate, unlike in other countries or cultures that have arranged marriages whereby a man and woman marry and they can have no love at all for each other.
And you call gay marriage wrong.
In my opinion your nothing but a homophobe that has been brainwashed by the Catholic Church.

Hamish Monday 5 July, 2010 - 8:57 AM