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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 01 Hansard (Tuesday, 10 February 2004) . . Page.. 107 ..

I will give more quotations from the multicultural community that Mr Stanhope also stands on behalf of. So, he is going to be letting them down also. These comments come from the thoughts of children aged 13 to 15, asked randomly what they would like to see happen and how they see growing up in same-sex-couple families. It will be interesting for all the people that are here tonight to hear this, too. I have openly said before that I have a cousin that is homosexual, as well as a nephew. I love them desperately.

Mr Stanhope: Do they talk to you?

MRS BURKE: They do talk to me; of course they do. Is that what you said? That was a bit of a stupid question, wasn’t it? Of course they do; they are family. A number of comments have been made to me by kids. One said, “When the kid is old enough they should have a say whether it’s OK by them to live in a family with same-sex parents.” That lines up with the criteria in section 19, as Mr Stanhope will know because he said so in a letter he wrote to somebody objecting, but still pushed ahead. He referred to “the wishes of a child (where the child is of an age and sufficient understanding to express a wish)”. That means that this will only be allowed—I hope that it is in the legislation somewhere—where children can speak for themselves. I think that is fair. So we are not going to be talking about babies then, unless I have missed something.

On kid commented:

…but if they are like 2 years old you can’t really ask them, can you—I suppose they’ll grow into it.

Another said:

…with IVF the child has no choice, and unless there is support (other relatives of differing sexes) for the children in same sex couples’ families, these children experience lots of problems with coming to terms with: self sex evaluation (unsure how they feel about their sexuality); never knowing their biological father—never having a father? children have the right to both mum and dad.

Yet another commented:

…it is very important that there is another female relative or a male relative so the child can talk to them when they need to—

we are talking about relatives, not friends—

(personal stuff) as they have the right to have access to both male and female support.

Yet another said:

…it has been very difficult for a child I know (IVF); she has a brother, and it’s been hard for both of them especially now that she is in high school (in same sex couple family)…

The comments go on and on. I will not bore members with them; if they want further detail, I am happy to provide it. I have had dozens of emails, as many members have. A

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