“I congratulate Ian Goodenough, WA Liberal MP for the federal seat of Moore, who has written one of the best articles on the meaning of marriage I have seen ,” FamilyVoice research officer Ros Phillips said today.
“His opinion piece, published in The West Australian on 4 June 2015, points out that marriage as an exclusive man-woman union has evolved as a social norm in almost every society since the dawn of civilisation.
“His article gently refutes the illogical argument by his opponent Gary Gray, WA Labor MP for Brand, who claims that “every Australian should be able to marry who they love”.
“As Mr Goodenough points out, marriage is ‘not a romantic notion’. Rather, it is an important social institution that deals with progeny. Marriage has evolved as an institution providing children with the security of a father and a mother, a family in which to grow up into well-adjusted adults.
“Ian Goodenough says children should be sheltered from the complexities of same-sex marriages that involve third parties. By legalising same-sex marriage, surrogacy and donor gamete arrangements will become commonplace. Parliament will be creating a range of consequential social and legal complexities with which society will be forced to contend.
“’There will be enormous costs to society in terms of dealing with dysfunction, psychological and mental health issues arising from introducing more complicated relationships in an already complex society. The article notes that the rights of same-sex couples are already protected by law.
“I hope that all federal MPs and senators will carefully read these words of wisdom,” Ros Phillips said.
Mrs Roslyn Phillips, BSc DipEd National Research Officer FamilyVoice Australia: a Christian voice for family, faith and freedom
