Equality

One of the many things that to confuse me about the Australian Government, is their continuing refusal to recognise the relationships of same-sex couples and to allow them to get legally married. It defies logic. It denies human rights. It is small-minded and out-of-date, and sings to the increasingly small choir of voices that play on fear about the 'institution of marriage'. The issue isn't about whether or not same sex couples can get married in the eyes of various religions - that is something for those religions to sort out - the issue is about whether their relationships are recognised in terms of Australian law. Which they totally should be, because the current laws are outdated and discriminatory.

So I was heartened when a couple of days ago the Aotearoa/New Zealand parliament passed a bill to change marriage laws there, thus becoming one of 14 countries in the world to do so.* And although I am not one prone to crying, this clip of the moment when the vote was counted and the members and public BREAK INTO SONG, made me tear up. (via thinkprogress.org)

Upon passage of the bill, the gallery broke out into singing the traditional New Zealand love song “Pokarekare Ana,” which includes the translated lyrics, “I have written you a letter, and enclosed with it my ring. If your people should see it, then the trouble will begin… My poor pen is broken, my paper is spent, But my love for you endures, and remains forever more.” 

Yeah New Zealand!!

*I thought my American friends might also find this clip an oasis of reason and hope after the recent insanity in the US Senate regarding changes to gun ownership laws.