The liberal ACT Party has decided to vote in favour of the anti-gay Marriage (Gender Clarification) Bill at its first reading in Parliament next Wednesday. ACT's two MPs, Rodney Hide and Heather Roy, both voted in favour of the Civil Union Act last year. Hide says civil unions were sold on the basis that they wouldn't affect marriage in any way, and he sees the Marriage (Gender Clarification) Bill as merely confirming the status quo. "I'm hearing on the one hand that this bill is not necessary, but I'm hearing on the other hand that its ruling out the possibility of the courts deciding on same-sex marriage," he says. "And I'm thinkiing, what does New Zealand want as represented by Parliament? When in doubt, I tend to cast a vote for the debate to be had." Hide doesn't see a conflict in voting for a bill which outlaws same-sex marriage, when he personally doesn't have a problem with it. "We went through a hell of a debate last year to get to this half-way house, which is what we have now, and that was a big push. It was sold on the basis that there'd be marriage for heteroseuxal couples, and civil unions for heterosexual couples and gay couples. And as I understood it, people were pretty happy with that." Hide says he is in favour of equal rights for same-sex couples, and personally finds "disgraceful" comments made to GayNZ.com by the sponsor of the bill, United Future MP Gordon Copeland, that same-sex and defacto couples fall short of God's standards because only sexual activity within marriage has "God's seal of approval".
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Wednesday, 30th November 2005 - 12:00pm