A rare Christian voice of support in the wilderness has been heard for the Relationships Bill, with the Rev Lynne Frith of Christians for Civil Unions in Wellington welcoming the select committee's work on the bill, which returned to Parliament for its final stages of voting yesterday. Frith says that many Christians recognise the need for people in Civil Unions to have their rights and obligations protected in law, and that the bill sets right inequities and injustices. “In a society that places great value on stable, secure, loving, respectful and committed long-term relationships, this can only be beneficial,” she says. Christians for Civil Unions has been one of the only openly Christian support vehicles for the fight to grant same-sex couples the same legal protections as heterosexuals. One of the group's Auckland spokespeople, Anglican priest Hugh Kempster, faced off against Brian Tamaki on Sky News last week. The religious side of the debate still continues to be led by fringe fundamentalists like Garnet Milne, who has described the bill as “capitulation to the forces of evil".
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Wednesday, 9th March 2005 - 12:00pm