Local uni supports marriage equality

ADELAIDE: South Australian Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young has highlighted a submission from within the University of Adelaide as one of the many supporters for her same-sex marriage bill, which recently underwent a Senate inquiry.

"A great submission in support was from almost two dozen academics in the law school at my alma mater, the University of Adelaide,” she said.

“They wrote that, while many advancements had been made to remove discrimination at the federal level against same-sex attracted Australians, ‘the continuing formal discrimination against same-sex couples in the definition of marriage is both paradoxical and incoherent’.

“The academics later wrote ‘the Marriage Equality Amendment Bill 2010 is a natural and inevitable next step on the path to eliminating sexual orientation discrimination’.”

Hanson-Young’s bill received a record number of submissions for any Senate inquiry with over 44,000 submissions in support.

"As many people told the inquiry during our public hearings, such as retired High Court justice Michael Kirby, they can rise to the pinnacles of Australian life but still feel second-class citizens because the state will not formally recognise their relationships through marriage,” she said.

"I'm confident that with the support of my federal colleagues here in South Australia from the other political parties such as Simon Birmingham and Penny Wong, we can pass equal marriage legislation later this year.

“We owe it to all same-sex couples here in SA and across Australia because cupid doesn't discriminate in love, but the Marriage Act does."

The Senate inquiry’s report is due for release on June 6.