Same sex marriage

It's really hard to respect a dude that bangs and knocks up another man's woman.

 

With regard to family law (parenting issues, property settlements etc.), any de facto couples separating after 1 Mar 2009 are treated identically to married couples; both come under the provisions of the Family Law Act 1975.

There are some slight differences with respect to immigration and other laws - e.g. de factos applying for spouse visas must have been in a relationship for at least 12 months, whereas this time does not apply to de jure spouses - but they're pretty minimal.

 

Yes, and yes.

That's within Australia's borders, anyway. The other issue is for couples travelling internationally; whilst a same-sex marriage may be recognised in, for example, the US, a de facto relationship would not be.

 

De facto SS partners have almost the same rights and obligations as hetro marriage, or hetro defactos. But there are differences, and they may, or may not be equalised by SS mariage.

EG - same sex couples can adopt in some states and not others. Whether SS marriage changes would change that depends on wording of state legislation, and potential court action (I'll leave that for lawyers to comment on).

 

That example sounds trivial and would not effect many people. But for those involved could be extremely important.

 

By "trivial" I didn't mean "unimportant", I meant in the sense of "not affecting many people". I didn't in any way intend to minimise the impact; I agree entirely that it's terrible for those affected.

 

You didn't say trivial - I did. You said minimal, and yes, as you've explained it doesn't affect many.

Many who oppose SS adoption etc, think it's about two blokes or two women wanting to adopt a random kid - that's very rare. It's mostly about cementing existing parenting arrangements.

So here's a hypothetical example... My sister is a single mum. She dies and our parents are already dead. Naturally I would be next in line to parent my niece. I do so with my long term partner. I'd want my partner (if they're willing and able of course) to adopt my niece as a form of succession planning in case anything happened to me. As a SS couple we couldn't do that in all parts of oz.

Life is complex.

 

US clerk jailed for gay marriage defiance
http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2015/09/04/us-clerk-jailed-gay-marriage-defiance

 

I believe she has been divorced 3 times.

So, perfectly happy to pick and chose which religious messages about marriage she does and doesn't support.

 

No need to try and justify anything, Ed.

There are thousands of kids out there who are living with dysfunctional husband and wife parents, who would do waaay better with a pair of loving SS parents.