Glbtiq Interfaith & Intercultural Network
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GLBTIQ INTERFAITH & INTERCULTURAL NETWORK [email protected] 19 Lethbridge St, Penrith NSW 2750 13 January 2017 To: Committee Secretary Select Committee on the Exposure Draft of the Marriage Amendment (Same-Sex Marriage) Bill Department of the Senate PO Box 6100 Canberra ACT 2600 Submission to Senate Select Committee on the Exposure Draft of the Marriage Amendment (Same-Sex Marriage) Bill 1. Introduction 1.1. About our network 1.1.1. The GLBTIQ Interfaith Intercultural Network (GIIN) brings together New South Wales and Australian leaders and organisers of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex, Queer (GLBTIQ) and ally community groups that are faith-led or culturally led. 1.1.2. As an interfaith and intercultural advocacy network, we speak on the basis of conscience with the authority of our diverse lived experiences of the consequences of religious, cultural and civil (legal) forms of discrimination. Once a precedent of discriminatory practice has been created, it can always be extended to discriminate against additional groups, and we do not wish for that to happen. 1.1.3. Our network consist of leaders from organisations and groups1 not limited to: 1.1.3.1. Asian Australian Alliance - Asian Australian Rainbow Alliance 1.1.3.2. Uniting Network 1.1.3.3. Trikone Australasia 1.1.3.4. Muslims Against Homophobia 1.1.3.5. Marhaba Melbourne 1.1.3.6. Rainbow Catholics InterAgency for Ministry 1.1.3.7. Arab Council of Australia 1.1.3.8. Sydney Queer Muslims 1.1.3.9. Rosh Pinah: An Affirming Orthodox Jewish Network 1.1.3.10. Dayenu 1.1.3.11. Metropolitan Community Church 1.1.3.12. Equal Voices 1.2. An appeal to legislate for Marriage Equality 1.2.1. We appeal to you, our government, to recognise our human rights and the Australian promise of “a fair go for all.” As law-abiding, tax-paying, and voting Australians, we welcome a draft bill that legislates for marriage equality. 1 See Appendix A: Organisational Introductions GIIN-GLBTIQ Interfaith & Intercultural Network’s Senate Submission Page 1 of 7 2. Preamble 2.1. Intersectionality of religion and culture 2.1.1. As an ethnic-based and faith-based LGBTIQ advocacy network, we offer our voices to this conversation because the intersectionality of religion and ethnicity/culture is too often overlooked in public discourse on civil marriage equality. Both faith and culture are symbiotic in our lived experiences. These experiences are intertwined, as our members also include those who come from ethnoreligious backgrounds. 2.2. Discrimination toward one group leads to discrimination against another 2.2.1. The Bill’s proposed religious exemptions constitute clear discrimination against LGBTIQ people. The Bill’s proposed “conscientious objections” for secular civil marriage celebrants is problematic because this undermines anti-discrimination protections for people from marginalised populations who seek assistance from service providers. We are concerned that discrimination in the guise of “conscience” has been used against Australians from non-dominant cultural and religious backgrounds in the past. We do not wish to have that ever happen again. “The Catholic church has also never found it necessary to protect Catholics who conscientiously support the church's position on divorce from being involved in weddings where either or both parties are divorced. If you went looking for a list of florists, bakers, photographers who would not participate in such weddings, you would not find it.” -Rainbow Catholics InterAgency for Ministry 2.3. Our ancestors experienced discrimination in the past based on our ethnicity/culture, and in matters related to marriage. “As Australians with an Asian background, we have an extensive history of discrimination by, not only people from the dominant cultural groups in Australia, but also by historical governments. These discriminations correlate exactly to cultural, religious and conscientious reasons. We direct readers to the quotes we attach in this submission, to further understand this historical context of marriage under the White Australia Policy”2 - Asian Australian Alliance & Asian Australian Rainbow Alliance 2.3.1. It is a shameful fact that our Australian history includes discrimination against peoples based on their ethnicity, religion, and culture. People of Asian descent have also been discriminated against when it comes to discussions of civil marriage in Parliament, sometimes for religiously motivated reasons. We are obliged to speak out, so that no one else is discriminated against based on ethnicity, religion, or culture. 2 See Appendix B. GIIN-GLBTIQ Interfaith & Intercultural Network’s Senate Submission Page 2 of 7 “The lack of marriage equality in Australia is something that affects our members, as any inequality in civil rights would affect the general Australian public, whether they wish to pursue marriage with a same-sex partner or not. Some of our members face isolation from family and community due to their orientation. Marriage equality will help them to build relationships that are protected by law so as to reduce this isolation.” - Sydney Queer Muslims 2.3.2. As a network of LGBTIQ religious and non-dominant cultural organisations, our member organisations can remember a time when our parents and grandparents were ostracised from the right to be able to marry people of other ethnicities, cultures, and religions both overseas and in Australia. 2.3.3. Aboriginal, Greek, Italian, Vietnamese, Catholic, Muslim, and Jewish communities, to name just a few, have a living memory of religious, cultural, civil, and employment discrimination based on 'conscience'. Racism itself often has had a religious justification. Interracial marriage was initially decided on 'religious principles' and ‘conscientious’ grounds (as seen in the United States case of Loving vs Virginia). 2.4. We believe that all adults should be allowed to marry the consenting adult whom they love. 2.4.1. We look to you, our government, to provide for a fair and equal society, especially in regards to all aspects of civil law. Just as civil law aims to protect the freedoms of religious and cultural communities, LGBTIQ protections are equally necessary. As LGBTIQ people with diverse religious and cultural backgrounds, our voices are just as important as those of any other Australians. Our need for equal freedom and the legal protection to live our lives with dignity includes equal ability to build our families. Marriage is an essential part of family life for many Australians. Equal ability to contribute to Australian society as part of a recognised family unit includes marrying the person we love and to be recognised as legally married in Australia. We thus strongly support marriage equality in Australia, as well as for the Bill’s recognition of overseas marriages without discrimination based on the sex and gender of the couples. “At the moment many members are depressed by the current political and media debate about same sex marriage and wish to marry their partner before they are too old eg. dementia or die due to their age. It is important to every aged gay man and woman that they can provide a commitment to their partner through marriage before they die.” - Metropolitan Community Church Granville Western Sydney GIIN-GLBTIQ Interfaith & Intercultural Network’s Senate Submission Page 3 of 7 2.5. Marriage equality honours our families 2.5.1. As people of diverse cultural descent, many of whom have migrant heritage, our families are vitally important to us. To be recognised within the family structure is a cultural necessity for our survival. Just as there is no longer any credibility to those voices which deny the existence of LGBTIQ people in any part of the Australian community, there is also no credibility to those who say that all people who come from migrant families and backgrounds reject LGBTIQ people and their relationships. Our members are living witnesses of migrant and culturally diverse Australian families who accept and celebrate same- gender, loving, committed couples into our family and community structures. Our members include those who have not only had a cultural or religious blessing on their relationships, but also those who have had the gift of nurturing children. That our families recognise us, and yet not our government, is beyond our families’ comprehension and harmful to our communities. 2.6. Broad, long-lasting, positive consequences of marriage equality 2.6.1. Combats religious and cultural intolerance, phobias and extremism 2.6.1.1. As LGBTIQ people of faith and non-dominant cultural backgrounds in Australia, we experience discrimination from within our communities due to lack of education and residual attitudes from Australia’s history of discrimination against LGBTIQ people. Anti-LGBTIQ attitudes are often justified within our communities by those who say, “if even the Australian government does not recognise you or your legitimate place in society, then why should we?” “Marriage is a vital aspect of South Asian culture and is the most widely recognised form of partnership among heterosexual South Asians. When GLBTIQ South Asians living in Australia can legally get married, their relationships will enjoy a greater legitimacy among their families and relatives - many of whom may still be residing in their home countries. This legitimacy will, in turn, help improve the opportunities for LGBTQ South Asians and their respective spouses to be recognised and accepted by their extended families.” - Trikone Australasia 2.6.1.2. An often overlooked fact is that our religious laws are influenced by the interaction necessitated by the “law of the land.” In our cultural and religious groups, the “law of the land” meets with our ethnic and religious customs to become part of the acculturation process (e.g., the symbiotic meeting of Australian culture and Asian culture). 2.6.1.3. Civil law, in choosing to protect its culturally and religiously diverse LGBTIQ citizens, by recognising all relationships as of equal worth in the eyes of the law, will assist us in actively combatting cultural and religious intolerance and extremism directed against LGBTQI people within our communities.