GAY TRUTH

Renaming gay marriage as "sarriage" would end divisions over marriage equality , Parliament has been told in a quirky submission on marriage equality legislation. The Government administration committee heard a mix of views today, including from Russell Morrison, who is concerned the bill will give the word "marriage" more than one meaning. "There are already too many words in our language with multiple meanings and I don't believe that we should be adding to that situation," he said. He says the words " marry " and "marriage" are understood to refer to a man and a woman, so he's come up with his own solution to avoid any confusion: "sarry" and "sarriage". "Then a person can be asked whether he or she is married or sarried, and the response will make the situation clear for everybody." Mr Morrison said MPs may have already dismissed it as a "crackpot idea", perhaps because they don'...

The debate on same-sex marriage has stepped up with both ends of the Church spectrum weighing in and a former MP comparing the proposed law change to "apartheid". A select committee has begun the task of hearing a selection of more than 20,000 submissions on a bill to legalise gay and transgender marriage. Committee member and Green MP Kevin Hague said the submissions yesterday ranged from "great" to "confused". Former Dean of the Holy Trinity Cathedral Bishop Richard Randerson spoke in support of the bill on the grounds that marriage was a committed union which provided a stable environment for children. The Anglican leader said this was not only a religious ideal but was backed by social science. Bishop Randerson argued that the Bible was not clear-cut in its condemnation of homosexuality. "The question of long-term, committed, same-sex relationships was just not an issue that was considered in biblical times. "What we look for in the Bible ...