Same-sex couples demand right to marry

Life for gay and lesbian couples in Australia is better than ever before but many
still feel like second-class citizens.
The reason: same-sex Australian couples cannot get married.
The Equal Love gay rights group was holding a fundraising party in Melbourne on
Sunday night ahead of a national day of action for its campaign for same-sex
marriage on Saturday, August 1.
The rallies will include a world record attempt for the largest mass illegal wedding.
Thousands of same-sex couples in Australia wished to publicly celebrate their love
for each other by tying the knot but the law prevented them from doing so, Equal
Love spokesman Martin Baldock said.
"It's important because we are being treated like second-class citizens," he told AAP.
"I think the politicians need to stop looking at themselves and looking at what
people want - a recent Galaxy poll found 60 per cent of Australians were for
same-sex marriage.
"We just want the same rights as everyone else, we fall in love for the same
reasons, we just happen to sleep with the same sex.
"It's like rubbing it in their faces to show them that they're still not quite human
and that marriage is still reserved as an exclusive institution for heterosexuals."
Mr Baldock said that as the law stood if there was a medical emergency neither he or
his partner Jason could make decisions in a hospital for each other - but their
parents could - because they were not married.
Last year the federal government amended more than 100 laws to provide lesbian and
gay couples with the same financial and work-related entitlements, including
superannuation and pension rights, as straight couples.
The developments were great but not good enough, with civil unions often not
recognised by employers and insurance companies, Mr Baldock said.
Currently same-sex marriage has been legally introduced in seven countries - the
Netherlands was the first in 2001 - and six US states.
In 2004 the federal parliament banned same-sex marriage but Greens senator Sarah
Hanson-Young introduced a private member's bill earlier this month seeking to grant
same-sex couples equal marriage rights.
The rallies on August 1 will take place in capital cities and coincide with an
Australian Labor Party national conference in Sydney.