KUALA LUMPUR, July 6 — Penny Wong, a Sabah-born Australian senator, defended same-sex marriage today by pointing out that she and her partner, Sophie Allouache, have already raised two daughters without a conventional heterosexual marriage.
Slamming government Senate leader Eric Abetz who said children should only be raised by a man-woman couple, Wong said the suggestion served only to block same-sex couples from legally marrying even when they are already parenting together.
“Memo to Eric: we’ve already got children, all you are doing is saying the parents can’t be married,” said Wong, a Senate opposition leader, on Australian channel ABC radio talkshow.
The senator for South Australia said she found it sad that senior Australian politicians seem to want to tell her children and other children of same-sex couples that they are not normal.
“Why have a politician continuing to articulate those views, which are really about division, in this debate simply because he doesn’t want marriage equality?” asked Wong, who was born in Kota Kinabalu before her family emigrated to South Australia when she was eight.
“We know same-sex couples have children now. All that debate is, is saying their parents can’t be married.”
Liberal Party of Australia MP Warren Entsch will propose a cross-party marriage equality bill seconded by Australian Labor Party MP Terri Butler and backed by a multi-party grouping when the Australian Parliament resumes in August.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has pushed back the landmark social reform, urgent cabinet ministers who do not back the current Liberal policy, that defines marriage as only man-woman, to quit.
Abetz has since said in another ABC radio show that “the best start in life for children is with their biological parent, with a mum and dad role model”.
The government senator also said that since Australia is now considered part of Asia, it should move towards the Asian cultural mores, where none of the countries had legalised same-sex marriage.
In June, the United States joined a list of 20-odd countries that have legalised same-sex marriage, after its Supreme Court ruled that the US Constitution provides same-sex couples the right to marry.
The landmark ruling sparked debates on same-sex marriage worldwide, with activists and advocates in Malaysia claiming that Malaysians still lack basic human rights to even think about legalising same-sex marriage.
