Marriage call at United Nations
Australia has been asked to legalise same-sex marriage and to protect people from discrimination on the grounds of sexuality and gender identity.
During the Universal Periodic Review at the United Nations in Geneva on January 27, nearly 50 countries questioned the Australian Government on its human rights record and made close to 150 recommendations.
Ten recommendations related to the need for stronger equality protections and included calls for a consolidated human rights act. GLBTI rights were the subject of four specific recommendations.
These included a recommendation from New Zealand that Australia make legislation covering discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation 鈥渁 high priority鈥�, while Norway recommended Australia amend the Marriage Act to allow same-sex couples to marry.
The Australian delegation told the session that reports of UN human rights bodies will be tabled in Parliament and recommendations would be included in a National Human Rights Plan.
Australian Marriage Equality national convenor Alex Greenwich told the Star Observer he hoped greater attention on reports like those produced by the review would help build the pressure for reform. He welcomed Norway鈥檚 recommendation on same-sex marriage, which he said demonstrated a growing confusion at Australia鈥檚 reluctance on the issue.
鈥淭he world thinks of us as a leader when it comes to human rights, but they鈥檙e very confused as to why this is not something that is legalised the way it has been in other leading developed nations.鈥�
Australian Coalition for Equality spokesman Corey Irlam welcomed the recommendations.
鈥淚t鈥檚 great to see Norway recommending passage of same-sex marriage, and hopefully this will further advance the cause for the Government to act,鈥� Irlam told the Star Observer.
鈥淏ut I think the more important thing that came out of this session was reminding the Government that after 15 years they鈥檝e fallen way behind much of the world by not providing federal anti-discrimination laws covering sexuality and sex and gender identity.鈥�
Don’t forget Tony Abbott’s view:
If he wasn’t such a prick about it, the government wouldn’t be so wary of being wedged on it. Not that they should be so worried, given the high and growing level of popular support for marriage equality in Australia.
I note that many countries are members of the UN Human Rights Council this year, among them Ukraine, Ghana, Zambia and Pakistan. Was the gay marriage question also asked of them, and if not why not? Given that countries such as Libya, Saudi Arabia and Cuba have been elected members in the past, I would suggest that the UN Human Rights Council is a toothless farce of hypocrisy and double standards to which no intelligent person would give their time of day.
I can’t believe her reason for not changing the legislation amounts to ’cause we talked about it and decided not to’. That’s the equivalent of a kid asking mum why she can’t play outside and being told ‘because I said so!’. We made up our mind, so that’s that!
I am discriminated because of my transsexualism (Gender) and marital status (Denied formal recognition of my sex change due solely to being married) … so I say big NO to Prime Minister Gillard which will mean that I will have to vote for another party for the first time in 30 years!