Kamala Emanuel
On May 27, Prime Minister John Howard announced his plan to amend the Family Law Act to exclude same-sex couples from the definition of marriage and to ban them from adopting children from overseas. As a sweetener, the legislation would recognise same-sex couples as economically dependent, which would allow, for example, access to a partner's pension in the event of one partner's death.
On May 31, the ALP announced that it would support the marriage ban, oppose the adoption ban and refer the legislation to a Senate committee.
The same day, the ABC TV children's program Play School screened a re-run of a two-minute segment showing a young girl going to an amusement park with her two mums, sparking a torrent of objection by Liberal MPs and right-wing media commentators.
"Howard wants to manufacture a crisis so he can 'protect' the Australian family from 'activist judges' and the 'homosexual threat'", Rodney Croome told 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly. Croome is a Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Rights Group activist and spokesperson for the national umbrella group the Equal Rights Network.
Three Australian same-sex couples who married in Canada have applied to the Family Court to have their marriages recognised. Croome explained that existing federal family law doesn't define who can marry, but relies on past court decisions for the definition, which has meant that only heterosexual unions have been recognised as marriages. Given the possibility that the relatively liberal provisions of the Family Law Act may be interpreted to recognise overseas same-sex marriages, Howard has intervened to pre-empt the court's decision.
"It provides Howard with an election wedge", according to Croome. His intention is to "divide the Labor Party and demonise a minority who he can [be seen to] 'protect' the community from".
Croome agreed that Howard employed a similar tactic to win the last federal election, using the Tampa, "because the ALP wasn't prepared to stand up to him. And they seem to be making the same mistake this time. Obviously, we welcome that Labor won't support banning overseas gay adoption and that they're willing to send this to a Senate committee, but on the key issue of marriages, Labor is just mimicking the government."
"Labor's response is better than it could have been, but nowhere near as good as it could be", said Croome. "The only excuse I'd give Labor is that Australia has not had a high profile gay marriage debate. Australia has come late to the debate. Labor hasn't had much of a chance to look at this issue, and there hasn't been a strong LGBT [lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender] voice arguing for marriage. But if Labor wanted to be the party of equality and justice, they should have supported [same-sex marriage]."
Australian family law is regulated by federal legislation, but adoption is regulated by the states. Currently, three Australian states — Western Australia, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory — allow same-sex couples to adopt children. Although Howard has stated that he would like this banned too, the federal government can't legislate to stop it. However, because it controls immigration, the federal government can make laws regarding overseas adoption.
Arguing that "the government is trying to manufacture a crisis out of nothing", Croome explained that the proposed family law amendment to ban lesbian and gay couples from adopting children overseas would be banning something that "already can't happen", as adoption agreements with other governments prohibit adoption by same-sex couples.
According to Croome, Attorney-General Philip Ruddock "has argued against overseas adoption, saying homosexuals want priority over 'normal' couples. It's not about having priority — we don't even have the right to do it at all. There are 17 million children in overseas orphanages. Ruddock is so homophobic he would deny those children a chance [for something better]. It's pretty damn inhumane.
"This is a government which is aggressively attacking its own citizens for nothing but tawdry electoral purposes and that's criminal."
Labor has pledged that in government it would conduct an audit of all commonwealth legislation to remove discrimination on the basis of sexuality, including in superannuation, social security and taxation. According to Croome, "First, Labor often promises to do things before elections which it doesn't do after. I'll be happy about that when it happens. And second, no amount of reform of superannuation will compensate for the message that Labor and the government have sent out, that same-sex relationships are second rate."
According to Croome, the furore surrounding the depiction of a family headed by a lesbian couple is "the same thing: the government making a big fuss for electoral advantage". He described it as an attempt to appeal to "socially conservative voters in marginal seats", to assure them that the Coalition will defend their homophobic values.
"But it is a fact of Australian life that some children will have parents who are of the same sex, and others will have friends whose parents are ... If a child hasn't learnt that by the time they go to school, their parents and society have let them down. The Play School [segment] was nothing to do with sex at all. It's about children learning about the diversity of families that exist.
"The Liberal Party is not being run by people who think sensibly but by ideologues who want to use their power to crush the ABC and put homosexuals back in their box and they'll do anything to do that. My hope is that the Australian public will say no to right-wing ideologues."
Croome added: "The government is attacking its own citizens for the most cynical of reasons. It doesn't care how many lives it makes harder in the process. In those kinds of circumstances, direct action is not only appropriate but absolutely necessary."
Rodney Croome will be speaking at a Hobart Socialist Alliance meeting on June 10. See the Activist calendar on page 23 for details.
[Kamala Emanuel is the Socialist Alliance candidate for the federal seat of Denison.]
From 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly, June 9, 2004.
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