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By Greg Millan
As most readers would be aware, there has been a long campaign mounted by
some forces within the gay community in Sydney to reform the law in this
state to recognize gay relationships and give them the same legal rights as
heterosexual couples. A recent campaign was mounted by the Gay and Lesbian
Rights Lobby with great looking posters that told us we should all "stand up for our love rights ".
Well, maybe I'll sit this one out. I'm not sure that this is a good idea and a lot of gay men I talk to don't really see any point in this drive to give gay and lesbian couples the same "de facto status" as straights. So, throwing caution to the wind, I'd like to look at some of the reasons why this may not be the best way to go. Firstly, there are currently a lot of areas of real concern where gays and lesbians do not have the same human rights as their straight counterparts, like superannuation, recognition of wills, rights around care of partners when they become sick including the right to visit in some hospitals, etc. All of these areas can be targeted for changes in the law and these are changes that most people would agree we need to make as soon as possible. But legal changes can be affected in all these areas to assure our rights without having to introduce an overriding piece of legislation that proclaims that gay and lesbian relationships must be the same as heterosexual ones. (It is currently, possible, for instance, that a beneficiary for superannuation purposes can be your own estate, and you can leave that money to your partner via your will.) I think we could lose more than we gain in terms of our lifestyle by taking this approach. Just last week, the National Tax and Accountants' Association suggested that under changes to the capital-gains tax being considered by the Federal Government, any cash or property settlements for "failed relationships" (their words) would be subject to tax of up to 50 percent. So, if the law was changed, our new - just as good as the straights - relationships could also be subject to these new taxes. Should make for quite a few dramatic court room scenes, not to mention heaps of work for gay lawyers. And what about single people in our community? Do we really want a future that makes the legally recognized relationship between two men or two women the much sought after goal of our gay communities? I sometimes think that people crave relationships a little too much now. Will this drive them even harder to shack up with someone else at any emotional or personal cost so that they aren't discriminated against by the rest of the happily married gay world? I really hope this never happens.
There will always be a section of our community that are single and very
happy that way and their rights need to be preserved and respected. One of
the annoying parts of this rush to legalize our relationships is that
essentially it is more heterosexual mainstreaming of our lifestyles.
Call me old-fashioned, but in my days as a gay libber in the early '70s we wanted our sexual freedom and our right to form whatever type of relationship we wanted with whoever we wanted and as many of them at once as we liked. The very thought of modeling our gay and lesbian relationships on the traditional straight two people variety would have been a totally unattractive option then and I don't really think that much has changed for the majority of gay men and lesbians. History will show: it's simply not what we fought for! We also have to realize that it is not possible to consult with the entire gay and lesbian community of New South Wales so we can never really get a true idea of what everyone thinks about this proposed and important push for change. The groups supporting the move for legal recognition of gay relationships have only sought the views of inner city Sydney gays and dykes who, though they may be thought of as being influential, are only a small percentage of the non-heterosexual population of this state. I suspect that the 'silent majority' of us don't see any benefits at all in this legal change of status, given the point made earlier that areas of discrimination and unfairness can all be addressed individually and overcome. I am sure that the those couples on unemployment or other benefits can't wait to see their relationships become the same as straights - with the same tax arrangements and less income each week. The Commonwealth welfare services have been waiting for years for a change like this. So changes to the legal status of gay relationships overall could open a whole heap of issues about how we want to lead our lives and the quality of our lives. I realize that this is my opinion only and there are lots of other points of view. Reprinted Courtesy of Sydney, Australia's Capital Q Weekly Capital Q Weekly is published every Friday in Sydney, and welcomes your opinions on this article. To comment, or for subscription information, e-mail: editor@capital.com.au |
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