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In Australia same sex couples already get all these things and in some cases have being able to for years.
Discrimination against same-sex de facto couples and their families in areas such as taxation, superannuation (Pensions for you Americans), social security. family assistance, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme Safety Net and the Medicare Safety Net, aged care, veterans' entitlements, immigration, citizenship, child support and family law etc etc were removed in 2008.
In Western Australia gay couples have been able to adopt since 2002. IVF has being available to Lesbian couples in all states except for South Australia for well over a decade in most cases. Gay surrogacy is legal in all states except Western Australia if you do not pay for it (it is illegal for strait couples to pay for Surrogacy in Australia as well). People easily get around the laws by using overseas surrogates mostly based in Thailand and India.
I just don't understand why they cannot take the one final step and legalise gay marriage.
Interesting and thank you for the detailed information. Then things are much different for gay couples there than in the U.S., prior to gay marriage being legal. Here, same sex couples were treated as "strangers" by law with no legal connection. Prior to being married, we had to spend around $3000 in legal fees to legally create some of the protections marriage now offers.
So is there some other name given to the bond for same sex couples, rather than marriage? Some states in the U.S. began with "civil Unions" or "domestic partnerships" which gave most of the rights of marriage at the state level, only with a different name.
I live in the U.S. I am gay, married and have two children. I've been with my patner for 18 years in a monogamous relationship and we had our children through egg donor/surrogacy.
We were married just last year, and it provides a lot of security for our family. For instance, prior to our marriage, if my partner died, I would probably have lost our house because even though we had a will that gave me the house, the government (both state and federal) would have taxed me heavily on the value of the house, as if it were a gift from some random person. If my partner died prior to being married, I would have been taxed heavily by the state and federal government on his life insurance money I would have received. We also don't have to worry about some blood relative coming in and claiming our estate upon our deaths, which has happened to gay couples. My partner is eligible for a pension through his company. Prior to being married, once he died, his pension would end. Now, if he dies before me, I still get the pension. My partner earns more money than me, so his Social Security benefits will be higher than mine. If he dies before me, then I will get the higher benefit amount. It's mostly about financial security and how we're treated by the tax laws. We had already proven our commitment to each other by being together for many years.
As for gay couples having children, it's becoming more common in the U.S. I know gay couples who have older children, and they turn out like any other children. We have other gay and lesbian couples in our neighborhood who have children, so there is no "stigma" attached to our children. They understand that there are different types of families and have no issues with it. Our children have many advantages that a lot of children don't have, and do extremely well in school. I have no doubt they will grow up to be healthy, happy, well-adjusted and successful adults.
It does surprise me that same sex marriage isn't legal in Australia yet. I would have predicted it would have been legalized there before the U.S. But it's nothing to worry about. Gay couples getting married and having children are no threat.
Would this issue be more interesting if it were debated in "Ockerese"?
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