My little girl's been doing rights and responsibilities at school.
Well here's what I think.
I think the gay rights should be allowed because if people love each other then they love each other
and they should be able to get married if they want to.
And did I mention that my mummy is gay? Well now I have.
Her words surprised me because she's normally very careful who she tells.
She's heard kids say that's so gay and she worries that they might not approve of our family.
There's me, my daughter, her baby brother, my girlfriend, our donor dad, his boyfriend,
lots of beautiful fairy godparents, nanny, gramps, aunties, uncles and cousins.
Come on people, our society has changed before like when people didn't leave that woman
and Aboriginal people should be able to vote so maybe it's time to change again.
Now we can all see that that's pretty fair currently. It's not a special right or anything.
It's just a normal right that all people should have.
My daughter's speech got me thinking. We talk all the time about the importance of accepting
that different people have different beliefs.
However it bugs me that she doesn't feel safe enough at school to be open about her family.
I thought we should do something to help her feel proud.
May 17th is international day against homophobia and a march and mass wedding was being planned in Adelaide.
My girlfriend and I giggled about it a bit and decided it was time to make some commitments.
My daughter had just seen the royal wedding and even though she knows we're not allowed to have a real wedding
she was excited about being a flower girl.
Our friends and family mostly thought it was a good joke.
Though a few could see that it was also symbolic and significant for us all.
It started in Victoria Square as gay couples staged mock marriages.
Be faithful to him or her for as long as you both shall live.
But members of the outspoken street church group crashed the weddings.
You will die and you will go to hell.
The war of words continuing along King William Street has the gay lobbyist march to Parliament House
where some of the anti-gay protesters were eventually escorted away by police.
Despite the violent opposition the gay community remains committed to the cause.
The majority of Australians support equal marriage.
It's only the government that's telling us no.
This is part of the international day against homophobia.
Scenes like this one are being played out across the country and around the globe.
We're sick of being bullied, we're sick of people who are part of our community committing suicide
because they can't see any hope.
My daughter wrote her speech two weeks ago.
Since then she's learnt what it feels like to be the target of hatred.
I wish she didn't have to experience that.
Homophobia in its many forms affects everyone, gay and straight.
In a way though I'm glad that it's made visible something that's sometimes hard to see.
We need to make acceptance visible too.
For kids like my daughter it's simple.
A community that accepts same-sex marriage is more likely to accept her and her family.
So what do you think the class response will be?
I don't know. If we're going to do it to the class and the school
I'm hoping there's going to be a lot of cheering and all of it.
Cool.
Fingers crossed even from Christian people.
