Marriage Victory

 

In mid_ August the Australian Parliament finally decided that marriage is to be only between a man and a woman. After extensive debate, and three tries, both houses of Parliament agreed that marriage in Australia will be between a man and a woman only.

This is a tremendous win for marriage, for Australia, and for common sense. It is also a big win for bi-partisan politics. It caps off a series of events that have seen a great change in the fortunes of marriage and family.

The first was the overwhelming number of submissions received by the Senate Committee looking into the issue of same-sex marriage (SSM) and adoption rights. While the numbers are still unclear, with counting continuing, it seems that there may have been close to 13,000 submissions, with the overwhelming majority opposing SSM and adoption rights. (Some estimates have it that they were in fact over 99% of the total!) Evidently the record is 14,000 submissions for the euthanasia debate of a few years back. But it is certainly possible that this enquiry may take the prize for submissions received.

Hot on the heels of this historic event was another event dealing with marriage and family, the National Marriage Forum. This pro-marriage forum held in the Great Hall of Parliament, was attended by well over 1000 people. Everyone, including the media, politicians and the organisers themselves, was staggered by the massive turnout. It was literally standing room only, with every available seat filled, and many spilling over into the surrounding galleries. Indeed, many people unfortunately had to be turned away from the event.

The forum was held to reaffirm the fundamental importance of heterosexual marriage, to support John Howard's attempt to amend the Marriage Act, and to oppose any attempt to radically redefine the nature of marriage. Over twenty different speakers spoke with one voice on the need to protect and pr;promote this bedrock social institution.

The forum was organised by the National Marriage Coalition (NMC). The NMC is a recently formed organisation designed to unite various groups and organisations who seek to promote and preserve the institutions of marriage and family. the three founding groups of the NMC are the Australian Christian Lobby, the Australian Family association and the Fatherhood Foundation. these three were responsible for the establishment of the NMC, the forum, and a new booklet on marriage launched at the forum, Twenty-One Reasons Why Marriage Matters.

The response to both the forum and the booklet was extremely positive and supportive. fifteen thousand copies of the booklet were produced and many were distributed on the day, with many more now being distributed. every Parliamentarian in the country will receive a free copy of this important research document, and it has been posted on the NMC web site : www.marriage.org.au

Hard work pays off

The story behind some of these initiatives is worth recounting. The NMC had originally hoped to secure a small Senate committee room for the forum, but learned that only the Great Hall was available. Thus the three organising groups had to rally the troops, and get the word out. It was originally hoped that at least several hundred people would turn up. In the end the numbers went well beyond our wildest expectations.

The development of the booklet was also a somewhat hasty, but in the end, successful, endeavor. Based on an American document written two years earlier, extensive Australian research data was added, and the whole booklet was redesigned as an Australian creation. The result is a very attractive and readable document filled with the latest social science data on the importance of marriage. We urge all of you to get copies of this and pass it around.

The forum featured some of the leading family experts in australia. Politicians, academics, media and sporting figures were all included. Senator guy Barnett (Lib., Tas.), who along with others was instrumental in promoting the Marriage amendment legislation, introduced the Prime Minister. Mr Howard's 20 minute speech was often interrupted by applause, and received a standing ovation at the end. He reaffirmed the Government's intention to keep marriage between a man and a woman, and announced that he would reintroduce his marriage legislation 'within a fortnight".

To many this was a bombshell announcement, catching them off guard, but resulting in huge rounds of applause. this is something that pro-family groups had been actively lobbying for.

When shadow Attorney-General Nicola Roxon spoke, she pledged that Labor would go along with such a bill. This was great news indeed, and we thank labor for making this stance. Indeed, she claimed that labor had always supported the bill. Given that it was Labor along with the minor parties that effectively blocked this bill from going through in the first place, the audience received this promise with relief but with caution.

Other speakers included Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson, Law Professor Patrick Parkinson, columnist Angela Shanahan, doctor and lecturer David van gend, family activist Babette Francis, Fred Nile and "Digger" James. All offered articulate and informed defenses of marriage and family, and all were warmly received by an enthusiastic and decidedly partial audience.

One important speaker was Pastor Brookman. Ron's story was especially pertinent, as he had been a practicing homosexual for 31 years. He has since left the homosexual lifestyle, and is now happily married with children. His story clearly challenged the common myth that homosexuals are born that way and cannot change.

Stories of individual marriages(from newlyweds, remarried's, and senior couples) were also heard. A panel of speakers took questions at the end, and the three conveners of the forum offered concluding remarks to wrap things up.

We had invited Labor leader mark Latham to speak as well. He declined however, so Nicola Roxon spoke instead, for which we were grateful. She explained to the audience that there was good reason why Labor and the minor parties sent the Marriage Amendment Bill to a Senate Committee. It appeared that not everyone was convinced by her arguments however, and a number of delegates were disappointed that Mr latham could not attend.

Jim Wallace of the ALC took a delegation of senior churchmen to discuss this and the marriage issue with her afterwards. they sought to impress upon her the importance of marriage and the dangers of vilification laws (which she said in her talk Labor would introduce nationally.) She carefully listened to our concerns, and we hope that they will filter through to the rest of the Labor Party as well.

The only disruption to the forum was a very brief demonstration by the Democrats who unfurled banners from the galleries with mindless slogans such as "Hate is not a family value". Given that this was a pro-marriage rally, and not an anti-anything rally, and given a number of speakers affirmed the need to reach out to homosexuals in love, this and other banners by the Democrats were inaccurate at best and offensive at worst.

]Fairly extensive media coverage of the event followed some days afterwards. All agreed that it was an historic event, and will have major ramifications for Australia's future. one person from the Parliamentary Press Gallery described the forum and the Senate submissions as marking a "seismic shift" in Australian political history.

Indeed, tasmanian homosexual activist Rodney Croome lamented the next day that this was a significant turning point: "John Howard's) announcement spoke of the fact that Australia's far right - once lost on the fringe of national politics - is now determining public policy across the political spectrum and across a range of issues. It also says that the influence of the social left as well as the nation's homosexual community has shrunk to next-to-nothing.

One must take the other side's words with a grain of salt, but he may be right. The tide may be turning. These recent events have indeed been tremendously significant.

While we can all rightly celebrate the great news of these pro-faith and pro-family victories, we must be extremely cautious. The battle is not over yet. We must not rest on our laurels. much remains to be done.

The worst outcomes would be to think that the battle is won and that we can all go back home to our quietude and inactivity. other assaults on marriage and family will continue to appear.

And there is still the matter of same-sex adoption rights. Homosexual activists will surely not be laying down their arms. They will continue to press for radical demands. And they will continue to try to sneak marriage in by the back door, in the form of civil unions and the like.

ACTION

Thank both parties for their willingness to see this new bill pass. It is important that we let both parties know that this is indeed a mainstream issue, and a political party will suffer at the polls and in other ways if it does not give bi-partisan support to such important measures. Do this by contacting your local members, thanking them for affirming marriage and encouraging them to continue to support marriage and the family.