See how worried Senator Wong becomes as soon as marriage is reframed in terms of the child's right to a mum and a dad... This excerpt from tonight's SBS Insight forum (full show Tuesday 13th 8.30 pm SBS, repeated 1pm Wed 14th) sees the AMF President, Dr David van Gend, put it to Senator Wong that no law should be allowed which diminishes a child's right to both a mother and a father - and Ms Wong simply says, "I'm not going to engage in that".
Dr van Gend's message to Ms Wong (if he had been given time to speak):
Share"You and your partner are no doubt outstanding citizens and fine people, but neither of you can be a father to a little child. A dad does matter, deeply, no matter what you say. Your decision to force a baby girl to live her whole life without the love of her father is a profound offence against that child.
"Same-sex marriage cannot be separated from same-sex parenting, because marriage and family formation is a compound right in international law: Article 16 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that men and women "have the right to marry and found a family". So laws that allow same-sex marriage automatically give same -sex couples the right to create a child by surrogacy, yet any child created in this way would have no possibility of both a mother and father in her life. That is why same-sex marriage is wrong, and that is why any law is wrong that deprives a child of that birthright - including surrogacy for single men or same-sex couples, or IVF for single women.
"Of course, not all children do have both a mother and a father - there are tragic situations such as the death or desertion of a parent - but that is not a situation we would ever wish upon a child, and it is not a situation any government should inflict on a child. But laws for same-sex marriage will inflict that deprivation on any child created within such a 'marriage'. That will be governmental complicity in yet another forced separation of children from their parents, a new 'gay stolen generation' that will, in due course, require its own national apology.
"We have to make a choice between the demands of same-sex adults to 'marriage equality', and the rights of children to enter life with at least the chance of a mum and a dad. That choice cannot be avoided in this debate. And as a family doctor, I stand with the fundamental rights and needs of the child, any day."
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