Bob McCoskrie Opponents of marriage equality claim they’ve had “overwhelming” demand for information on making a submission against the bill. Ahead of submissions closing on Friday, Family First’s Bob McCoskrie is predicting the select committee in charge of the next stage of the process “will be swamped with written submissions and people asking to make oral submissions”. He says the group has distributed almost 100,000 pamphlets throughout the country outlining the strong case for retaining the definition of marriage and encouraging people to make their views known to politicians who voted to start redefining it. “We also have a database of more than 40,000 supporters who we are keeping up to date with the progress of the bill, plus over 4,500 supporters on our Facebook page. And the petition is now up to 61,000 signatures with more coming in every day.” The petition had 50,000 signatures in August. McCoskrie finishes: “everyone has a right to love who they choose, but nobody has a right to redefine marriage in the process.” Meanwhile GayNZ.com Daily News has received many complaints over the past few weeks about people attempting to engage in debate on the Protect Marriage Facebook page being banned and having their comments wiped. One reader says there has been a systematic culling of pro marriage equality supporters from the debate, so much so that scrolling through the threads reveals conversations referring to people no longer visible. That’s despite the statement: "The Protect Marriage NZ Facebook page exists as a forum to foster healthy debate on the subject of marriage and any attempts to redefine it. Everyone is welcomed to share their opinion and engage in debate in this forum."
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Tuesday, 23rd October 2012 - 9:22am