SPCS

SOCIETY FOR PROMOTION OF COMMUNITY STANDARDS INC.

Group calls for legalisation of multi-partner marriage

by Leave a Comment

Stuff News (23/04/13) reports:

A group is calling for the Government to consider legalising multi-partner marriages.

The group set up a Facebook page just before the Marriage Amendment Bill passed through Parliament last week, legalising gay marriage.

A statement on the page described multi-partner – or polyamorous – marriage as “responsible, adult, committed non-monogamy,” and said all committed loving relationships between adults regardless of number should be respected and given legal acknowledgement.

“Some Australian Greens have now got a lobby group going, there are several MPs around the world coming out as poly and poly-friendly and it seems the time is right to at least bring it to the attention of the New Zealand public and New Zealand parliament,” the group said.

“This will be a long-term project but with the rest of the world getting on the bandwagon legal multiple partner marriages/unions may one day be accepted.”

The “slippery slope” towards legalising polygamy, polyamory or incestuous relationships has often been an argument raised by opponents of the Marriage Amendment Bill.

Last year the member in charge of the bill, Labour Party MP Louisa Wall, and Conservative Party leader Colin Craig went head to head in a live online debate about marriage equality.

At the time Mr Craig predicted the bill would inevitably raise issues surrounding discrimination to people in polygamous or polyamorous relationships who could not marry and yesterday said it was “no surprise” the Support Legalise Polyamory in New Zealand group had started up and there was no doubt marriage would be further redefined in the future.

“We have opened the doors to this.”

He said it had begun when the line was moved for civil unions.

“They said that was it, they’d never touch marriage again, and that’s what they’re saying now.”

Mr Craig said legalising gay marriage created a precedent for further redefinition of marriage, which he had been against from the start.

Last year Ms Wall said marriage was based on love, which was why gay and lesbian people wanted the same rights.

“Marriage is the institution of two people who love each other committing themselves to a shared life together. This bill will not address polygamy or other forms of relationship.”

Mr Craig said if people were intellectually honest they would see the arguments for legalising gay marriage could apply directly to those in other alternative relationships.

“If it’s about love and commitment and respect, don’t they have that? They would say they do.”

Source:

Story by Kirsty McMurray. 23 April 2013

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/8588721/Legalise-multi-partner-marriage-group

Kirsty McMurray

Same-sex ‘marriage’ and “gay” adoption debate fuelled by polyamory advocates

by Leave a Comment

Lover of twins adds new twist to moral debate.

Belle Glasby, Marc Glasby and Dorothy Loader appeared on television talking about their ‘poly’ relationship. Marc Glasby and his two partners – wife Belle and identical twin sister Dorothy – last night poured new fuel on the growing debate over sexuality and marriage in 21st century Australia.

Their appearance on SBS Television’s Insight programme added polyamory to the already furious debate over same-sex marriage and the associated debates over gay adoption and lesbian access to IVF birth programmes.

Advocates of polyamory – intimate relationships involving three or more people – have ruffled feathers in the gay community, caused grief for the Greens, and strengthened religious determination to preserve male-female marriage as the nation’s only legal option.

The debate is being hammered out in a parliamentary inquiry into two bills aiming to legalise gay marriage and to recognise those performed abroad.

Gay marriage was a fraught issue long before polyamory’s entry. It split the Labor Party and became policy only after Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who opposes the move, struck a deal requiring a conscience vote in Parliament.

The Opposition opposes same-sex marriage, while the Greens’ policy advocates marriage for all, regardless of sexuality or gender identity.

For full story by Greg Ansley, published 30 May 2012, see:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10809419

[Read more…]

Where Do Politicians Stand On Polygamy? – asks Family First NZ

by Leave a Comment

In a Media Release issued today, Family First NZ, a registered charity with the Charities Commission,  is asking the question:

Where Do Politicians Stand On Polygamy? …………

Family First NZ is calling for the National, Labour and Green party to state where they stand on the issue of redefining marriage to allow polygamy and polyamory.

“Polygamy and polyamory have been added to the same-sex marriage debate in Australia because the ‘discrimination’ argument being used to argue for allowing same-sex marriage also applies to any number of adults who love each other and want their relationships recognised,” says Bob McCoskrie, National Director of Family First NZ. “At the moment, the New Zealand marriage law does discriminate against three or more people getting married, or a married person marrying another person.” [Read more…]