Marilyn Monroe and Tom Ewell reminded us of the dangers of ‘The Seven Year Itch’ – the inevitable cracks that start to show following seven years of marital bliss. But how do you describe a stronger feeling of support for marriage after seven years?
It’s now been seven years since the 2002 reforms by the WA State Government that granted same-sex couples equal status to heterosexual de facto partners . The passing of the Acts Amendment (Lesbian and Gay Law Reform) Bill gave a common definition for de facto partners that included same-sex couples. It equalised the age of consent for gay males, legalised same-sex adoption, granted same-sex couples access to the Family Court and added Sexual Orientation as grounds for Protection under the Equal Opportunity act (we were the last state to do so) and granted lesbian couples access to IVF treatment.
Since then, community support for same-sex marriage, civil unions and relationship registration has shot up dramatically; with recent Galaxy polls showing that 60% of Australians, and 58% of Western Australians support same-sex marriage and 85% support anti-discrimination legislation. That’s roughly double what it was in 2003.
However – as far as we’ve come, WA still lacks a relationship recognition scheme. The ACT, Victoria and Tasmania have got us beat on that one, and South Australia has a same-sex domestic partnership scheme. Federally KRudd seems happy to leave the issue up to the jurisdiction of the States and Territories – irresponsible, inconsistent and downright insulting to the very notion of equality. While we may have been granted the same rights as a heterosexual de facto couple (how nice for us) – it takes at least two years to fully qualify as a de facto couple and is a long and difficult process. Weirdly enough, a marriage licence is far easier to obtain (but only if your partner is of the opposite sex). Individualised, state-based civil unions and relationship recognition schemes are not sufficient for full GLBTI equality – but at the moment they are a crucial part of the ‘baby steps’ progress that will need to happen before we see the introduction of same-sex marriage.
This will, however be easier said than done. Premier Colin Barnett is no friend to the GLBTI community – in the run up to the 2005 state election, the Liberal Party’s campaign ‘Families First’ sought to reverse all the changes that had been implemented only three years previously – removing same-sex adoption, raising the age of consent for homosexual males and barring access to the family court for same-sex couples. He seemed to develop a curious case of amnesia during the most recent state election – but as faulty as Colin’s memory may be, same-sex relationship recognition is definitely not on his agenda.
But that can change. We only need to look at the past few decades of our state’s history to know that. It wasn’t until 1989 that homosexuality was decriminalised – and over the last few years community attitudes towards same-sex relationships and GLBTI people have been improving exponentially. So the solution is to talk. It’s to keep people talking , to keep people thinking. Change the community attitude and eventually the laws will change with them. Write to politicians, sign petitions, get online, go to events. Make your voices heard in whatever way you can – don’t let the efforts of past activists turn out to be just another Seven Year Itch.
Kitty Hawkins
GALE Co-Convenor
kitty@galewa.asn.au
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