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For all my fabulous Aussie readers you’ll be interested to know South Aussie Greens senator Senator Sarah Hanson-Young will be introducing a private members bill to allow same-sex marriage in Australia. This is huge.

“The Greens’ Marriage Equality Amendment Bill can bring Australia into the league of other forward-thinking nations who recognise that all couples should enjoy the right to marry,” said Senator Hanson-Young, Greens spokesperson on sexuality and gender identity.

“While last year we saw some historic leaps and bounds in removing discrimination against same-sex couples within this country’s federal laws, there was a glaring omission from that suite of legislation: marriage.

“It’s well and truly time our parliament rights this wrong and legislates for true equality.”

Senator Hanson-Young said the Australian community was broadly supportive of equal marriage, citing polls, petitions, and community attitudes

I admit I was ignorant of this: according to the current laws Australia doesn’t even recognise same-sex marriages from overseas which is a bit embarrassing. Even though New York state doesn’t allow same-sex marriage they still at least recognise others.

The Greens’ Bill will also repeal the prohibition of the recognition of same-sex marriages entered into overseas.

“It’s ridiculous that a same-sex couple married in Canada, for example, can step off the plane at Sydney International Airport and have their marriage considered invalid,” she said.

If this passes, Australia would join other progressive jurisdictions such as The Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Canada, South Africa and Norway, as well as the US states of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa and Vermont in according the LGBT community the same rights, privileges (and therefore responsibilities) of straight people. It’s interesting how all these places have gone to hell since introducing these bills isn’t it? Oh wait, they haven’t!

I worry some religious groups will be protesting this; I urge the Australian Parliament to dismiss these dissenting voices and respect the views held by a majority of Australians.

I talked about Sweden allowing same-sex marriage back in May.

Common sense, we hardly knew thee…

I’m well aware these observations have been made by many rational people before, but I’m just putting them on the record here too.

• Isn’t it funny [most of] those who claim to be "pro life" overwhelmingly support the death penalty? This isn’t even touching on the issues surrounding legitimate medical research. (see the comments thread for revisions)

• Isn’t it funny those who claim to be "pro family" want to deny so many loving and responsible people the right to have one based on arbitrary critera for which they have no evidence affects their abilities?

• And isn’t it also funny that those who are quick to dismiss sciences such as evolutionary biology, astronomy and geology suddenly change their minds when it works in their favour?

Everybody has the right to choose what they believe, but that doesn’t mean we should reject common sense. If certain religious beliefs (and conspiracy theories too while we’re at it) are hindering social, moral, scientific and medical progress, it’s time to review them. I know enough moderate religious people who agree with me on this to know it’s possible.

My last attempt at a post like this generated more hate mail than any I’ve ever had before. Hey, as long as people are thinking about these issues I’m (as I always say) cautiously optimistic :-).

Photo of the Swedish Riksdag by User:BillC on Wikipedia

I’d just like to take this opportunity here on my humble blog to congratulate the Government of the Kingdom of Sweden for overwhelmingly passing a resolution allowing same sex marriage! This is a huge step forward for LGBT rights and yet another sign that Sweden and her people get their progressive and forward thinking reputation for a reason. Their government even has an official human rights website.

Sweden now joins the ranks of other enlightened countries such as The Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Canada, South Africa and Norway, as well as the US states of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa and Vermont.

Flags of the European Union and Sweden, from the Swedish EU Presidency site

On a somewhat related note, Sweden’s government website is also the best designed government site I’ve seen! ^_^