One of the images from the site More than a thousand submissions calling for marriage equality will be presented to Labour MPs Louisa Wall and Charles Chauvel at Parliament on Tuesday afternoon. They come from the website marriageequality.co.nz, which popped up earlier two weeks ago when Prime Minister John Key stated he believed there was ‘no clamour’ for same-sex couples to be able to marry in New Zealand. The site’s creator Kurt Sharpe tells GayNZ.com Daily News he created the site on the spur of the moment, after being incensed by Key’s comments. “I know there are a lot of groups out there working on the same issue at the moment, but I wanted to start something to get some response.” Tomorrow he and a group of friends who are also passionate about the issue will hand the petition over to Wall, who is drafting a marriage equality bill. “So we thought she could present it to John Key’s office and just let him know there is a ‘clamour’ starting out there.” He is hoping the submissions will be handed to the MPs on Parliament’s steps, but says that is dependent on the weather. The handover will happen at 3PM. Around 1,100 submissions will be passed on, while the site will remain functional and further submissions will be emailed directly to Key. Sharpe doesn’t have a long-term plan for the site, but it hoping to work with other groups in Wellington fighting for the same cause. He says some ‘awesome’ stories have come through the submissions, many of which people are happy to be shared, which he will consider doing. “There are different feelings out there. A lot of straight couples who got civil unions just because their friends aren’t able to participate in the institution of marriage, a lot of stories like that.” You can discuss this gay New Zealand news story in the GayNZ.com forum here
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Monday, 21st May 2012 - 12:32pm