Last Thursday, Josie and I had another little discussion about her many ‘boyfriends’ and which one she’s going to ‘marry’. (She seems to have set one of them up with her best friend, which is great… she must have been getting tired with all the juggling!)

She was reeling off on her fingers who’s marrying whom, and I noticed that she left out a little boy that she has become really good friends with; he was even coming over the following day for a playdate. I asked her who *Callum* was going to marry, and this was her response;

“Nobody. Because some boys marry girls, and some boys marry boys, and some boys marry nobody and that’s okay too.”

I was absolutely gobsmacked. In a wonderful, glowing, proud, grinning-like-a-loon sort of way. We do our best to explain things to her like gender equality, we try to have a gender neutral approach to toys, and we’ve spoken before about the fact that not everybody has a Mummy and Daddy but sometimes two Mummies or two Daddies and that’s lovely too. We’ve not sat her down and drummed it into her, but sometimes a conversation will come up about something on the tv, and the opportunity arises to explain these things to her. On a very basic level, she showed me that she understands ‘love is love’. Our four year old daughter, our first baby, in her first year of primary school, understands how simple this matter should be.

So why are we still fighting? Why are so many still denied their rights? There are a whopping 160 statutory differences between civil partnership and civil marriage. Did you know that only married parents and their children are recognised by the constitution, and are therefore protected as being a family? So think of all the same-sex couples who are fantastic, loving parents, and are denied that protection.

Imagine, just for a second, that you have a child, not biologically but your child nonetheless, with your partner. You helped to raise this child and you love him/her with all of your heart.

Say, your partner unexpectedly passes away. You would automatically get to keep raising the child you had together right? Wrong. Because as far as the state is concerned, you are a stranger to that innocent child.

This is so heartbreaking, for the parent and the child. A child who, in their eyes, will have just lost two parents. Just one of many, many issues that can arise from having a civil partnership and not a civil marriage. As a parent, it’s one that strikes my very core. I won’t stand for that. Will you?

Why, when 73% of the population are in support of marriage equality, are we even still debating this issue?

When you love somebody, and you want to celebrate that fact with your nearest and dearest, when you want to declare it to the world… the next step is marriage. It has nothing to do with religion, or sexuality; it’s about two human beings in love. It’s really that simple.

In fact, George Hook said it better;

“For me, marriage is a commitment between two people. It is a promise that they will look after, protect and love one another for the rest of their lives. It is nothing to do with race, religion or sexuality. Marriage is a public declaration of love. It’s a celebration of beauty, companionship and devotion, and it should be available to all who choose to celebrate its sanctity.”

I want my kids to grow up and be able to love freely, and to marry whoever they want if they wish to do so. It upsets to me to think that right now, if they were older, they wouldn’t be granted that right. It makes me angry that they might be treated as different, and not as equal citizens… that they might be excluded for simply being in love with somebody. I don’t want our children to grow up in a country like that. They deserve more respect.

It breaks my heart, because our children matter. Our rights matter.

Marriage equality matters.

An overwhelming majority of the population understands this.

Our four year old daughter understands this.

Let’s hope the government catches up soon!

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