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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 01 Hansard (Tuesday, 10 February 2004) . . Page.. 113 ..

I do not know about you, Mr Speaker, but there have been many times in my life when I wished that I could change at least one of my parents, and sometimes both. Children do not get to choose who are their parents. None of us get to choose our families. Certainly, children who are adopted do not get to choose their adoptive parents.

Mrs Dunne made the comment that, when people go up to adopt children, they are assessed for psychological fitness, likelihood of disease and length of relationship. I agree that this should be taken into account. Of course this should be taken into account with every couple that goes to adopt a child. But Mrs Dunne seemed to imply that, if you are a homosexual couple, you are more likely to have detrimental effects. She is implying that you are more likely to have a psychological condition if you are a homosexual couple.

I have to say that that is offensive. Whether or not she intended to make that link, that was the impression that came out. That sort of attitude towards people in our community is not acceptable. If we legislators say that it is okay to discriminate against people on the basis of their sexual choice, the rest of the community will take heed of that in some form because we are political leaders in this community. At the end of the day, there will be more likelihood of gay bashing. It is because of that reverse impact that I support this legislation and the other legislation that the Stanhope Labor government has introduced over time to remove discriminative barriers against the gay, lesbian, transgender and intersex people in our community.

It is very important that this be heard and that we say to the community, “You may not feel comfortable with it, and you may not have grown up with this thought as being the norm, but there are people out there who fit into this category and they deserve to be treated with some form of respect. They are human beings and they have rights as well, and they should not be treated as though they are second-class citizens.”

Mrs Dunne made the comment that adopted children of lesbian or gay couples would be more likely to be teased in the playground. This is not the first time I have heard this argument; in fact, I heard it this morning over breakfast. I do not necessarily buy it. Children get teased in the playground for all manner of reasons. I got teased in the playground and my mother got teased in the playground. It had nothing to do with the fact that I had homosexual or lesbian parents—because I did not. It had to do with the fact that I was a dag. I am quite happy to admit that. I probably still am one, but I got used to it. At the end of the day, children tease each other for lots of reasons.

What is more important is giving children a stable background and the grounding, the ideals and the education that they need to get through life. Sexual choice does not make a difference to that, but the people who have been getting up and speaking against this legislation have not made an argument that sexual choice will have a negative impact on the ability of gay and lesbian couples to raise children.

MR CORNWELL (8.47): Mr Speaker, most members have canvassed all the arguments that we have to discuss in relation to this parenting bill, although I notice that the Chief Minister has been heavily supported by his own party. We have indeed heard from Mr Hargreaves and Ms MacDonald, but we have not heard from the rest of the frontbench. I am in fear and trembling that we are about to have a massive El Alamein

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