Young Labour is calling for the gay marriage debate to be amplified in New Zealand, following the Australian Labor Party's endorsement of same-sex marriage at its annual conference. Seventeen Young Labour delegates from around New Zealand were at the conference in Sydney this weekend. They included Young Labour President Ella Hardy, who says the group learnt from its sister party how to push for progressive policy advances, about different party structures and what it can do better to bring a progressive New Zealand. "We have been particularly excited to see the marriage equality debate and see it become part of the ALP policy platform," she says. "We believe that it's also time to end marriage discrimination in New Zealand - if two people love each other they should be able to get married. It is an issue of fundamental human rights." Young Labour Rainbow representative Sam Thompson said that "we will mirror this discussion at our own Party Conference where I believe we will have more success at the end of this year. "It is simply unacceptable for progressive parties to not stand up for equality. "Young Labour was proud to march alongside 10,000 people in downtown Sydney yesterday calling for an end to marriage discrimination. It is time for New Zealand to also face up to this important issue." A law allowing same-sex couples to have Civil Unions came into effect under a Labour Government in 2005. Senior Labour MP Charles Chauvel told GayNZ.com in October that those who pushed for Civil Union legislation were pragmatic, saying "A judgement was made about what was possible at the time... if we had gone for marriage the numbers by which Civil Unions just squeaked through probably indicates that we would have suffered a defeat." He added that he believes opening marriage to same sex couples is not far off. "If you talk to almost anyone under thirty and you ask if should people of the same sex be able to marry they look at you as though you are asking a bizarre question. 'Of course!' is the answer. And that generational shift will tell very quickly in our politics." Prior to the election, National made it clear gay marriage is not on its agenda. It responded to a question from Rainbow Wellington with: "In the context of the current economic environment and our strong focus on providing stability, reducing debt, and returning to surplus by 2014 the government currently has no plans to amend the Marriage Act."
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Monday, 5th December 2011 - 10:14am