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G'day, I'm David Farrar
I blog at Kiwiblog.co.nz
I'm in support of the Marriage Equality bill
because I think it's good for marriage
and I also think, as Paul Hutchison said
there's just no good reason against it.
Normally, almost every other issue
that comes before Parliament
there's pros and cons
there's some group that may get harmed
but some group that gets benefits
and it's about the trade-off.
But I just can't see for the life of me
who gets harmed
if gay couples that love each other
are able to marry.
So, it's good for marriage too
because I think marriage is an important institution
I think there's something quite wonderful
about a couple wanting to make a public declaration
that they're going to support each other
in illness or health for the rest of their lives.
And if more people can marry
isn't that a great thing
to go against a trend where
you have celebrity marriages
that last two or three weeks.
So really it's just common sense
that there's no good reason in the law
for us to say
these couples shouldn't be able to marry.
When I was very young
I think I was 17 in 1985
when homosexual law reform came through
and I was actually against that at the time
you're seventeen, you're at a single sex boys school
and to be fair, half of New Zealand was
because back then, people
thought homosexual behaviour was all about public toilets
not realising that actually
that's all people saw
because it was illegal.
And what's been great in the last twenty years is
since that law reform happened
I think almost all younger New Zealanders
have gay friends, gay work colleagues
even at school now, which I think is really important
for teenagers growing up
is that there are kids able to be out about their sexuality
and their friends are pretty tolerant about it.
So my views have changed
dramatically from 20 years ago
because of that law passed then
where there have been so many benefits.
Can you find anyone in New Zealand
who thinks we should go back to 1985
and likewise, my prediction:
in even ten years' time,
it will be: 'what was all the fuss about?'
There's going to be
some extra couples married
who are gay
and that's great
and no one's going to be harmed by it.
One interesting thing that happened to me
is one of my best friends came out as gay
his name is Mike Moore
not the former leader of the Labour Party
but he actually went on to
form the Wellington Gay Association of Professionals
One day we were chatting and
basically he told me that he was gay
and I sat there and
I said: 'does this mean I have to
stop telling gay jokes now?'
And he said: 'no!
You have to tell more of them!'
It's been good, though
when you have someone really close to you
and you talk to them
and you ask them: 'was it a choice for you?'
and so many of your friends you talk to
who may be gay or lesbian
you realise that when people talk about it as a choice-
it isn't a choice.