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"gayism"

This country as a whole is fairly homophobic. Our laws say so, our politicians say so and our censorship says so. Imagine my surprise when I came across this article then. Unfortunately I'm a little cynical about it actually happening, or even that it would happen for the right reasons.

I'm a firm believer in equality for all. And that includes the gay community. Especially couples. The one area that I'm surprised wasn't mentioned in the above article is the welfare system. Currently my friend and his partner can claim full benefits from the government as their relationship is not recognised. So the government are doing themselves out of money the way I see it! If they were in a hetrosexual relationship, they would each receive less money each fortnight if they were claiming it. Partners income would be taken into account and one is working. As it stands, they would both be entitled to the single rates, which are higher. The other thing that gets me is this, surely if you are going to overhaul the law in order to NOT discriminate against gays, the first place would be to allow for marriage or civil unions? The only mention of that isn't from the backbenchers who are looking to introduce the bill, it's from the ACT where they are looking at reintroducing laws to allow for 'civil partnerships' that the Commonwealth Government got rid of earlier in the year.

As individuals, most of us are accepting of homosexuality. Some don't like it, don't agree with, think it's against God's laws and will having nothing to do with gay people, but it is basically accepted as a part of life. If you see a same sex couple walking down the street holding hands, the chances of them being bashed in a dark alley are a little less today than what they were yesterday, and will be even less tomorrow. Slowly but surely gayism is fading and becoming unacceptable. You'd be hard pressed to find someone who didn't know someone who was gay - even if they didn't know about it.

The bit that bugs me the most about the current discrimination in our laws is the message it sends to our children. Our laws are a reflection of our moral and ethical beliefs for the most part. I understand it takes time for those laws to catch up to societies ever changing acceptance levels. Some will never change, some are an ongoing ebb and flow of a societies development. But our children learn in part what is acceptable and what isn't from our laws, so maybe the wheels should turn a little faster. What message are we sending our children when the law doesn't recognise anything other than hetrosexuality in a society that is slowly waking up and realising that a persons sexuality does not necessarily define them? How does my friend explain to his children why our government does not think his love for his partner is valid enough to allow them to get married should that be what they wanted to do? They don't wish to, but surely they should have that choice?

How does a gay parent look into the eyes of his children and explain why his/her love is not ok according to this society, it's laws and our elected governement? In a world that needs more love, not hate, this doesn't make any sense to me.