Valiant Conservatives Vow To Defend World From Scary Scary Gays
Despite widespread support for Labour MP Louisa Wall’s Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Bill, there has been significant dissent from conservatives.
Pulled from the ballot during Victoria University’s Pride Week, the private member’s bill to legalise same-sex marriage in New Zealand is due for its first reading this month.
“It is about ensuring all New Zealanders have the same rights under the law,” Wall said.
Reaction to the bill has been varied however.
Prime Minister John Key assured New Zealanders that he will vote for the bill beyond the first reading but other National MPs have not been as supportive.
National MP Chester Borrows said that his view is faith-based and that therefore, a marriage is between a man and a woman, while Colin King believes that same-sex couples will not enjoy marriage in the same way that a man and a woman do.
“What my wife and I have enjoyed over 42 years I don’t think anyone of the same sex could enjoy.”
Conservative Party leader Colin Craig, who is not an MP, has claimed that same-sex couples are abnormal and are bad models for their children compared with heterosexual parents.
“The differences between homosexuals as parents and a mum and a dad as parents are very, very significant,” Craig said.
Supporters of the bill have fought back against those who are opposed to same-sex marriage.
Family First’s ‘Protect Marriage’ website was shut down in one of New Zealand’s “largest, unprecedented” denial-of-service attacks on the day it was launched, although it was later re-hosted.
The reaction to the bill at Victoria University has been largely positive and it has been VUWSA policy to support marriage equality since the AGM last year. Both VicLabour and VicNats have pledged their support for the bill and are lobbying MPs to do the same.
With 44 MPs having confirmed they will vote in full favour of the bill, and another fourteen saying they will support it at least through the first stages, it looks likely the bill will pass through its first reading.
How it will fare beyond that point is unclear.