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Steven Jones (C) and Jamous Lizzotte speak with Gabe Morte as they wait to receive marriage licenses at the City Hall in Portland, Maine on December 29, the day the state allowed same-sex couples to start marrying. REUTERS/Joel Page |
Terms such as mother, father, husband and wife could
disappear from the law if gay marriage is legalised, MPs have
been told.
Family First director Bob McCoskrie told the select committee
considering Labour MP Louisa Wall's gay marriage bill that
Spanish law had recently replaced the terms mother and father
with Progenitor A and Progenitor B.
"The US State of Washington is to remove the terms husband
and wife from divorce courts," he said.
"In France the words mother and father will be stripped from
official documents,'' he added.
McCoskrie tabled 24,000 extra signatures to petition against
the bill on top of 48,000 already presented at parliament.
"I see marriage as similar to the Treaty of Waitangi. It is
historical. It is the foundation of our culture," he said.
"It certainly shouldn't be altered."
New Zealand Aids Foundation told the committee that countries
with less discrimination against gay people have lower rates
of HIV.
"The internalisation of homophobia leads to a devaluation of
self and a reduction in the ability of gay, lesbian and
transgender people to make positive decisions," said doctor
Jason Myers of the foundation.
- Simon Collins of the New Zealand Herald
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