The majority of the members of the select committee which heard submissions on proposed marriage equality legislation have agreed that marriage is a human right – and not just for straight couples. It was one of the issues fiercely debated during the hearings, with those in favour of the Bill adamant the right to marry freely is a human right, which is currently denied to same-sex couples and transgender people. Opponents of the bill argue marriage is not a human right. “The majority of us consider that marriage is a human right, and that it is unacceptable for the state to deny this right to same-sex couples,” the report the Committee has released today says. “Others of us believe that marriage is not a right, and should continue to be the sole domain of heterosexual couples.” Green MP Kevin Hague was a member of the Select Committee and says he finds it puzzling when people can’t see the reasonableness of human rights being applied to marriage equality. “The arguments for application of human rights provisions were extremely well set out in many submissions,” he says. “The committee was frequently told by people who produced copies of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that marriage is not in there, and that everyone can marry, just so long as it is someone of the opposite sex ... which shows they are not really getting the point of human rights."
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Wednesday, 27th February 2013 - 1:45pm