LOVE MAKES A FAMILY
fact #1: Not all children are treated equally under Victorian law.fact #2: Right now you can help remove this discrimination.
In 2002 the Victorian Government asked the Victorian Law Reform Commission to conduct an enquiry into all laws relevant to reproductive technology and adoption, and their impacts on children, including those with same-sex parents.
During its five-year enquiry the Commission reviewed three decades of research and received over 1,000 submissions. In June 2007 the Commission reported to the Government that:
- children are in no way disadvantaged by having same-sex parents, only by discriminatory laws and attitudes
- it is quality of parenting, not the sexual orientation or marital status of parents that determines outcomes for children
- children of same-sex parents are disadvantaged by laws that fail to recognise or protect their family relationships, and
- laws preventing same-sex couples and single people from accessing simple fertility procedures like donor insemination are unfair and undermine the health and wellbeing of children.
The Commission made 130 recommendations, including changing the law and birth certificates to recognise same-sex parented families, and removing discriminatory barriers to fertility treatment, adoption and surrogacy for same-sex couples and single people.
Write to your local state member and insist that the complete 130 recommendations are made in to law without delay.
Visit www.rainbowfamilies.org.au for sample letters and further detail.
This Victorian community education and lobbying campaign aims to
achieve equal rights and choices for lesbian, gay and bisexual,
trangender and intersex (LGBTI or 'rainbow') parents, prospective
parents and families. We are working to improve both the law and social
attitudes in the broader community.
The campaign was founded by the Fertility Access Rights Lobby, a
working group of the Victorian Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby, and The
ALSO Foundation (a non-profit foundation that works to enhance LGBTI
people's lives) and members of our communities. It is now managed by
the newly formed Rainbow Families Council.
