Mike Rann The push for gay marriage rights continues to gather strength in Australia, where outgoing South Australian Premier Mike Rann has labelled civil unions a "halfway house" and called for full same-sex marriage rights in the nation. Rann is one of the most high profile members of the Australian Labor Party to lend his support to the cause, saying not addressing the issue "will diminish us as a nation". It follows support for marriage equality from the Victorian Labour conference at the weekend and adds to the pressure on Prime Minister Julia Gillard to sort out the issue in the run-up to the Labor national conference in December. Rann condemned the "halfway house'' of civil unions as an escape clause, and noted that same-sex marriage was now legal in a dozen or more countries. '"In addition to accepted trailblazers such as the Netherlands, Scandinavian nations and Canada, same-sex marriage is now enshrined by law in Spain, Argentina and South Africa and legislation is imminent in Slovenia, Paraguay, and even Nepal," Rann said. "It is, quite simply, unfair to prevent same-sex couples from having their relationship - a union that is viewed as equal in every other aspect of the law - being recognised as a legal marriage,'' he said. '"It only serves to undermine the legitimacy of their relationship, and their family.'" "What are we so afraid of? Why is this next step so threatening?" he said. Gillard has repeatedly said she is against changing the law. Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young is welcoming Rann's comments. "He hasn't always been in support of marriage equality," she has told reporters in Canberra. "And I think this proves this issue can change people's minds." Hanson-Young is renewing her calls for the major parties to allow a conscience vote on the issue. "We know the Labor Party is debating it internally. It's time for the Liberal party to give their members the right to vote with their conscience on this issue." Hanson-Young said the electorate was "streets ahead" of its elected representatives on the issue. "Thankfully we are starting to have people like Mike Rann and others coming out changing their views. "Because they are accepting that the idea of marriage only being between a man and a woman is not just outdated but extremely defamatory and undermines what true love is all about." Australian Marriage Equality National Convener, Alex Greenwich agrees Rann's evolution on this issue is representative of the journey many Australians have taken towards acceptance of marriage equality. "Premier Rann has clearly spent much time thinking about and discussing the issue, and like all current State Leaders, he understands this is an issue about the core Labor values of fairness and equality," he says. "The Premier also understands that negotiated half-measures, like civil unions, only deliver 2nd class status and entrench discrimination against same-sex couples." Rann's comments come on the back of brilliant Wallabies flanker David Pocock speaking out in support of gay marriage.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Monday, 10th October 2011 - 5:15pm