Nice day for a gay wedding

Punita and Nikki getting married during the same-sex marriage rights rally last Saturday.

Punita Boardman was marrying the love of her life, Nikki Witting, when a ‘fake’ policewoman arrived to arrest them before the scene erupted into a celebratory dance party. The‘illegal’ wedding ceremony between two women took place on the streets of Lismore last Saturday during a rally for same-sex marriage rights.

With more than 200 gay, lesbian and straight people to witness the event, there were plenty of wedding dresses, tailcoats, bouquets and confetti throwing.

“It’s a political protest because we can’t do it legally,” Ms Boardman said.

Rally organiser Angela Pollard addressed the rally and called on politicians to change the “outmoded” laws that prohibit same-sex couples from legally marrying.

“There are now 10 countries which have legislated for same-sex marriage including Spain, Canada, Argentina, Portugal and Iceland – which has a married lesbian Prime Minister,” Ms Pollard said. “Even South Africa, a country that divided its people by skin colour only a decade ago, has embraced same-sex marriage. In Australia, we are being left behind.”

Ms Pollard said that while legislation had been introduced in some Australian states allowing same-sex couples to register their relationships “just like we can register our cars and our dogs”, she said it was not the same as being allowed to marry.

“Registration is proof of the relationship and says you can exercise some rights and responsibilities... and it affects dealings with Centrelink and Medicare,” Ms Pollard said. “But we remain second-class citizens… A marriage ceremony is about public acceptance and approval; a state sanctioned same-sex marriage ceremony would be a powerful public declaration by the state that our relationships are equal in every way – deserving an equal degree of public respect as any heterosexual union.”

Ms Boardman’s daughter Akira told the wedding guests she was proud to be the daughter of lesbian mums and referred to recent comments from Queensland Senate Family First candidate Wendy Francis, who had equated same-sex parenting with child abuse (she later apologised and deleted the offensive comments from her Twitter account).

“There are many unique relationships in same-sex families and I’ve got news for you Wendy,” Akira said. “I’ve got three mums and one dad and don’t get me started on grandparents. Kids like me are planned, wanted and loved. We are a family just like any other and we do fantastically. It’s your homophobia and discrimination against same-sex families that is child abuse.”

Akira said that the equal right to marry who you love was a human rights issue.

“In the past blacks couldn’t marry whites and one day we’ll look back on this horror and say ‘why not?’,” she said. “There are whole new generations of us children… we might be straight, but we won’t be narrow. We will value diversity, respect, difference and show compassion for our society. We all want the right to decide whether to marry or not. Marriage legalises family status; why should I be denied this status because of who my parents love?”

In 2004, the Howard government amended the Marriage Act to exclude same-sex couples from marriage by defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman.

“At the time, Hansard records showed the majority of senators refused to include a definition of marriage in the legislation,” Ms Pollard said. “Senator Gordon said it was best to leave it to common law to allow for the evolution of marriage… but the government forced the legislation through.”

Ms Pollard said that marriage has looked different at different times in history and it should change as society changes.

“There is evidence of same-sex marriage in ancient Rome; the Emperor Nero was married to two men until the rise of Christianity,” she said.

Ms Pollard said the latest polls showed 60% of Australians believe marriage is a human right for all and asked for politicians to end the discrimination and “stop pandering to the homophobes and bigots”.

Both the Democrats and Greens candidates for Page addressed the rally. Greens candidate Jeff Johnson said the Greens would work hard with the next government to get a conscience vote on Greens legislation to remove discrimination against same-sex couples in Australian marriage laws.