Supreme Court extends same-sex marriage nationwide

[Noblejanobii]

Yeah. That's how it works.

I'll definitely be hearing about it at church this Sunday.

[Suicune's Fire]

Suicune's Fire, what are the laws on gay marriage in the future Australia?

Basically, our Prime Minister is like "Oh hi guys i have a gay sister but who cares also three quarters of the country supports marriage equality but i don't lol because i'm a jackass who failed priest school haha so i went into politics"

And that is why no gay couple can get married anywhere in our entire. Freaking. Country.

I am a little wary of the religious activists out there, though. Plus does this mean that EVERY wedding chapel has to be forced to allow same sex couples to be wed in their chapel?

I understand that people mean well, but forcing them to take in same sex weddings is pretty much just as bad as the super religious forcing their views down our throat. Force isn't the answer.

Seeing "forced" everywhere makes me a little confused. Why in the world would a gay couple want to enter a place where they're shunned? Obviously they'd stay away from the idiots who'd condemn them. Also why "forced"? It's the law now. They'd have just as much right as a satan-worshipping couple who wanted to get married there. Pretty sure that would be worse for the religious people... I don't think anybody's forcing anyone. It's being legallisaed. It's being allowed. You know, like when women could vote? Speeeeed. D:

[Noblejanobii]

Actually, I figured it out. Suicune's right though, I don't know why they'd want to get married where they're shunned. But that's beside the point. There's two things that can protect the churches from being forced to marry gay couples: separation of church and state and private property laws. So, pretty much, the church is protected from laws that infringe on the church's right to exist so that the law can't dictate what the church does and the church can't dictate what the law does. This means that as much as they might want the church to marry gay couples, the churches have every right to deny the marriage because the law doesn't apply to them. I know that sounds weird but that's about the summary of what that means. Secondly, churches are private property and must be rented for a marriage to happen. As a result, they can set rules as to who can rent, be married, etc. in the church. For example, at the church where my mom works, the priest who runs the place has this set of rules: you must have been a parishioner (active attendee) of the church for at least 6 years, make donations every week you attend (they keep track of this), must know the head priest (he does the services 90% of the time so that's not that hard unless one of the parties isn't a parishioner which usually means that marriage gets denied), and a few other really complicated things. This means that because the church is private property and must be rented to the people who want to get married, the church has every right to deny renting the space to them because it is private property.

Also, that prime minister sounds like a complete jackass.

[SassySnivy]

I wasn't trying to insinuate anything...yeesh. I was just going off of hypothetical statements. Its like, I would understand if a chapel refused to wed an interracial couple. Do I believe it's right? No, I don't believe doing that is right. Its stupid just like looking down on homosexual couples. But if that's part of their belief system, I don't see why they would need to be forced to do it. The couple would just find another chapel, simple as that. @Suicune's Fire

And that right apparently exists because of state and church separation

And basically what I was saying is that bigotry can go both ways. We need to be careful to NOT fight fire with fire. Christians shouldn't shove their beliefs down our throats as we shouldn't try to shove our beliefs down theirs. And by presumably forcing them to always take in certain parties to their community really IS shoving our beliefs down their throats. Either way it goes, it's not right.

[Noblejanobii]

Well as far as I am aware, many Protestant churches support same sex marriage, but I know for sure the Roman Catholic Church is very much against it. And you can tell this is true because Ireland is mostly Protestant and same sex marriage is legal there but Northern Ireland is majority catholic and it will probably never be legal there unless Catholics change their minds.

[Pokemon Trainer Sarah]

I'm glad this has happened and also ashamed that Australia is even behind the US now xD As soon as we get a new PM, it will happen though.

I still find it sad that religion governs stuff like this in so many places. I would say that the majority of straight couples in Australia do not get married in a church/religious place these days. Their ceremony has no ties to religion at all, yet they are still "married". So marriage has obviously moved beyond being a religious thing.

I don't think any gay couple (or interracial couple or whatever) would WANT to get married in a chapel where there was a chance they wouldn't be accepted. If they are religious they most likely belong to a religion or church that accepts them and doesn't shun them and therefore would get married there. xD Also seriously, chapels can turn away interracial couples?! That sounds so crazy to me. Its difficult for me to believe that sort of thing still goes on, even though I know it does.

[Noblejanobii]

I don't recall mentioning interracial couples but they can reject anyone they want. Chapels don't have to marry anyone because the church is their property. They choose who to rent it out to.

[SassySnivy]

I don't recall mentioning interracial couples but they can reject anyone they want. Chapels don't have to marry anyone because the church is their property. They choose who to rent it out to.

I was responding to Xanthe. I was using that as an alternate example.

I don't think any gay couple (or interracial couple or whatever) would WANT to get married in a chapel where there was a chance they wouldn't be accepted. If they are religious they most likely belong to a religion or church that accepts them and doesn't shun them and therefore would get married there. xD Also seriously, chapels can turn away interracial couples?! That sounds so crazy to me. Its difficult for me to believe that sort of thing still goes on, even though I know it does.

...that wasn't really my point. Those were both hypothetical examples...

[Noblejanobii]

Ah okay. Gotcha. Still, they have every right to reject whomever they want.

[Suicune's Fire]

I wasn't trying to insinuate anything...yeesh. I was just going off of hypothetical statements. Its like, I would understand if a chapel refused to wed an interracial couple. Do I believe it's right? No, I don't believe doing that is right. Its stupid just like looking down on homosexual couples. But if that's part of their belief system, I don't see why they would need to be forced to do it. The couple would just find another chapel, simple as that. @Suicune's Fire

And that right apparently exists because of state and church separation

And basically what I was saying is that bigotry can go both ways. We need to be careful to NOT fight fire with fire. Christians shouldn't shove their beliefs down our throats as we shouldn't try to shove our beliefs down theirs. And by presumably forcing them to always take in certain parties to their community really IS shoving our beliefs down their throats. Either way it goes, it's not right.

Don't you "yeesh" me! xD Wait, seriously?! Like Sarah said, I can't believe they can refuse an interracial couple! Woah. People are so freaking dumb. HOW is equality ever going to happen if there's still segregation happening? Again, it's not about "shoving" a belief down someone's throat. Like I said, no gay couple would want to go near people who still have ridiculous prejudice against them. Heck, I don't.

I'm glad this has happened and also ashamed that Australia is even behind the US now xD As soon as we get a new PM, it will happen though.

I still find it sad that religion governs stuff like this in so many places. I would say that the majority of straight couples in Australia do not get married in a church/religious place these days. Their ceremony has no ties to religion at all, yet they are still "married". So marriage has obviously moved beyond being a religious thing.

I don't think any gay couple (or interracial couple or whatever) would WANT to get married in a chapel where there was a chance they wouldn't be accepted. If they are religious they most likely belong to a religion or church that accepts them and doesn't shun them and therefore would get married there. xD Also seriously, chapels can turn away interracial couples?! That sounds so crazy to me. Its difficult for me to believe that sort of thing still goes on, even though I know it does.

This, exactly. There are so many arguments I could bring up with someone taking a religion standpoint with gay marriage. And there IS no other standpoint, to my knowledge. Most people I know aren't religious. Are they still gonna get married? Of course. It has nothing to do with religion and the fact that people are still clinging to that as their reason for being against it, in my mind, makes no sense.