Liberal Senator Susan Boyce is considering crossing the floor tomorrow to vote in favour of same-sex marriage. The Queensland Senator plans to go against Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, who is ordering Coalition members to stick with the Liberal Party position, which opposes the proposed Marriage bill.
Senator Boyce has previously announced her stance in favour of same-sex marriage, she spoke to The National Times, stating – ‘They’re just like everybody else. There are good gays, bad gays, good parents, bad parents, ones who want children, ones who don’t’, she said.
Alongside fellow Liberal Simon Birmingham, Senator Boyce recently signed a Senate report calling for equal marriage rights. The report read – ‘this situation is neither fair nor equitable… this inequity warrants change.’
Senator Louise Pratt and Senator Ron Boswell both gave speeches yesterday during parliamentary debate regarding the bill. Senator Boswell spoke in opposition, stating – ‘Two mothers or two fathers cannot raise a child properly,
‘Who takes a boy to football? How does he go camping and fishing? Yes, there might be some attempt by one of the mothers to fill in as a father figure but it will not work’.
In favour of the bill, Senator Louise Pratt delivered a speech entrenched in emotion ‘We exist. We already exist… all we ask is that you stop pretending that we don’t. That you stop pretending that our relationships are not as real as yours, our love as true, our children as cherished and our families as precious. Because they are’, she said.
Debates on the bill will resume tonight, a vote on the bill is expected to take place tomorrow.
Nadine Walker
