Australian Doctors support heterosexual marriage

The Australian Medical Association (AMA) has distanced itself from a group of prominent doctors who say children are better off when raised by heterosexual parents, rather than same-sex couples.

Around 150 medical practitioners from the group Doctors for the Family, including a member of Victoria's Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, say children raised in heterosexual relationships "do better in all parameters".

The group has signed a submission to the Senate inquiry into marriage equality, opposing same-sex marriage and asserting that marriage between a man and a woman is the "basis for a healthy society".

The submission says that marriage, as it is currently defined under the Marriage Act 2004, is more stable than same-sex marriages.

Doctors for the Family's convener, Lachlan Dunjey, is concerned about the health consequences for children of gay marriages.

"It's well proven that children who grow up with a mother and a father in a biological mother-and-father family do better than children who don't have the opportunity to grow up in that kind of family," he said.

Who are Doctors for the Family?

• Doctors for the Family was established in November 2011.
• Its convenor is Dr Lachlan Dunjey.
• Dr Dunjey is a Perth GP and a right-to-life campaigner who has run as a Senate candidate for the Christian Democratic Party in multiple elections.
• He was president of Baptist Churches of WA in 1989/90 and set up Medicine With Morality in 2006 to lobby politicians on issues including cloning and euthanasia.
• Doctors for the Family says it aims to "highlight the health aspects of marriage and family and ensure a healthy future for our children".