Page 3490 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 22 October 2014
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I am pleased to put and speak to this motion today to mark one year since Australia’s first same-sex marriage legislation, the Marriage Equality (Same Sex) Act 2013, was passed in this Assembly. As a result of our marriage equality act, 31 loving couples were married. While the passing of this bill itself was a major achievement of the government, which has a long and proud history of legislating to remove discrimination and protecting the right to equality, since the introduction of the marriage equality act, the ACT government, in consultation with the LGBTIQ advisory council and A Gender Agenda, has introduced a number of changes to formal recognition of sex or gender on a birth certificate.
One of the most significant amendments to the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1997 unanimously passed on 20 March 2014 was the removal of the requirement for sexual reassignment surgery for a person to be eligible to change their sex on their birth certificate. The government also made administrative arrangements for the legal recognition of a third category of sex and gender on birth certificates—indeterminate, intersex and unspecified.
While the marriage equality act passed one year ago today, there was a lot of work that went into getting the legislation to the Assembly, work by many people both in Canberra and across Australia over many years. These people often made personal sacrifices to support the marriage equality campaign. Their sacrifices made me think that we do not talk enough about what legislation like this means from a personal perspective. That is why, when I wrote my speech for this day 12 months ago, I asked couples to share their marriage equality stories with me. This was Chris and Dylan’s story one year ago:
We are Chris and Dylan. We’ve been together for almost six and a half years. In that time we’ve grown together, both as individuals, and as a couple. We’ve had our share of ups and downs—some wonderful times and some not so wonderful times. But what keeps us together throughout all of this is the love and commitment we share for one another.
Marriage equality, to us, is about recognising and protecting that love and commitment. It is about providing the same recognition to our relationship that our friends and family receive in their relationships. It is about respect. It is about dignity. The word “marriage” carries a high level of respect and dignity in our society. It is about family; our family. It is about being treated fairly and equally.
We celebrated our relationship by joining in a civil union just over one year ago. On a rainy day in the cherry blossom-filled Nara Park, we were accompanied by our family to publicly declare our love and commitment to one another. The sun came out just in time for the ceremony, we stood in front of our family members, teary-eyed, and declared our union. It was wonderful. But it wasn’t marriage. It was very special. But it did not carry the same dignity as marriage. It was a step on the path to equality; a step towards the respect that so many take for granted.
We are Chris and Dylan. We are a family. Our love binds us together. And we look forward to the day when we are treated like any other family. Today is the next step on that path to equality.
Here is what Chris and Dylan had to say 12 months later:
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