GAY TRUTH

A Legal Opinion obtained by Family First NZ from Barrister Ian Bassett has labeled the conscientious exemption proposed by the Select Committee Report on the same-sex marriage bill as 'unprincipled and wrong', 'misguided', 'unjustifiably discriminatory', and 'based upon flawed legal advice'. "The Report of the Government Administration Select Committee states: 'It is our intention that the passage of this bill should not impact negatively upon people's religious freedoms… The bill seeks to extend the legal right to marry to same-sex couples; it does not seek to interfere with people's religious freedoms.' Yet the Legal Opinion clearly explains that 'the advice of the Crown Law Office and the Ministry of Justice and the resultant recommendation of the Select Committee will interfere with people's rights to act according to their beliefs and conscience'", says Bob McCoskrie, National Director of Family Firs

Charles Chauvel and Grant Robertson at the Big Gay Out 2011 (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Family First NZ has released a legal opinion which calls into question the validity of the assurances given in Parliament during the 1st Reading of the Marriage Amendment Bill by the Bill’s author Louisa Wall , and also points out the legal incorrectness of statements made to a newspaper by Labour’s Shadow Attorney-General Charles Chauvel . An initial legal opinion (dated 27 Aug 2012) obtained by Family First NZ from Barrister Ian Bassett before the 1st Reading in Parliament stated that marriage celebrants (including church ministers) exercising their public function will be in breach of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 and acting unlawfully if they refuse to perform their public function as marriage celebrants by reason of the same sex of a couple seeking to be married. On 29 August 2012 in Parliament during the 1st Reading of the Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Bill, Lo