Hoani Jeremy Lambert The coming fight for marriage to be extended to same sex couples can be won if people in the gay communities immediately mobilise behind it, says a prominent marriage equality campaigner. Hoani Jeremy Lambert of the Campaign for Marriage Equality says getting MP Louisa Wall's Definition of Marriage bill, which has just come out of Parliament's ballot, passed will be a "massive challenge" which will need to see all glbti people throughout the country mobilise themselves, their friends and their families to lobby MPs, engage with talkback radio and above all be visible. Lambert hopes that even those who do not see gaining marriage equality as relevant to their own lives or views will still support those who do. "This bill is about fighting for glbti people to have same choice as straight people," Lambert says, "It's about eliminating one of the final vestiges of legalized descrimination against us." Having come out of the ballot today the bill may receive its first reading within "a couple of weeks," Lambert observes. He says one of the challenges the glbt communities face is to bring back to life the infrastructure which was developed to successfully campaign for Civil Unions nine years ago. "There a lot to be done and not much time to do it," Lambert says. "We all have to grasp this real opportunity to convince parliamentarians to respect and support marriage equality in New Zealand." Lambert says he was initially against striving for marriage equality but since the passing of the Civil Unions legislation he was forced to consider his stance more carefully. He now feels that should glbti people be granted access to legal marriage he and his partner, Romeo, would choose marriage.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Thursday, 26th July 2012 - 1:40pm