A marriage certificate puts our entitlements beyond doubt says Alex Greenwich, National Convener, Australian Marriage Equality.

Nicholas Richardson’s recent opinion piece in MCV 471, January 14, 2010, lamented the fact that marriage equality is "the most dominant political campaign amongst queers in Australia".

There are some excellent reasons why so many LGBT Australians consider marriage equality to be important.

Discrimination in marriage most deeply affects those same-sex partners who wish to marry (a recent national survey puts this at 55 per cent of all same-sex couples).

Marriage is society’s most treasured celebration of romantic love. It provides us with a universal language of love and commitment. It creates deep connections, not only between married partners, but between partners and their families and communities.

Because they cannot marry, same-sex partners are denied the affirmation, participation and sense of belonging that marriage can bring.

This is why many Australian same-sex couples travel overseas at great expense to marry in those places which treat same-sex partners equally.

Same-sex attracted people who don't wish to marry are also affected.

The fact that there is still discrimination in such a key legal and social institution sends out the message that other forms of sexuality discrimination remain acceptable.

Because marriage is about love and commitment, discrimination in marriage sends out the message that all same-sex relationships are less loving and committed than their heterosexual equivalents; it says our relationships are not “real” relationships. This is a particularly destructive message to send to those struggling with “coming out”.

Denying same-sex attracted people the right to marry the partner they love defines us as second-class citizens, in the same way as former laws against interracial marriages effectively labelled black people as unworthy and second-rate human beings.

Richardson questioned the practical benefits of marriage equality and raised the spectre of “coercion” into “the nuclear family model”.

The practical benefits of marriage are simple.

Marriage allows partners to have immediate and relatively easy access to spousal entitlements. They do not have to wait to be recognised as a couple, or jump through legal hoops involving cohabitation and shared finances, like de facto partners.

A marriage certificate also provides married partners with a way to prove their relationship if challenged. Given how recently same-sex relationships have been recognised in Australian law, it’s still common to find people in authority who don’t understand, recognise or accept that we have rights. A marriage certificate puts our entitlements beyond doubt.

As for “coercion” into one family model, as Richardson himself notes, Australia has a very well developed system of de facto laws, which, together with our developing state civil union schemes, provide couples with alternative ways to access and protect their spousal entitlements.

On top of this, marriage now comfortably embraces different family forms like blended families and couples without children.

If there is any “coercion” in marriage today it is from those people who would deny same-sex partners the choice of marriage because they don’t like same-sex relationships, or, like Richardson, because they don’t like marriage.

Either way, the effect is the same: our community is denied the practical benefits, sense of inclusion, legal equality and freedom of choice that come with the right to marry.

For more on marriage equality visit australianmarriageequality.com

Pictured: Protesters at last year’s Equal Love Rally.

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