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Tasmanian Upper House Approves Same-Sex Family Law

HOBART, October 28, 2009  – The Tasmanian Upper House has today passed a new law giving equal  recognition and protection to families headed by same-sex couples.

The Legislative Council today endorsed a State Government initiative that will recognise the same-sex partner of a woman who has a child through fertility treatment as the child’s other legal parent.

Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Rights Group spokesperson, Rodney Croome, welcomed the move.

“This is in the best interests of the children of same-sex couples because it provides them with the greater legal, financial and emotional security that comes with having two legal parents rather than one,” he said.

Women’s Legal Service managing solicitor, Susan Fahey, also welcomed the vote. “We have seen too many distressing examples of co-mothers being denied access to their children in hospital or not being acknowledged by school administrators,” she said.

“We are very pleased the children of same-sex couples will now have the same rights and protections that other Tasmanian children currently have, and which all children deserve from birth.”

The traditionally-conservative Legislative Council, which stridently opposed decriminalising homosexuality in the 1990s and voted down the current parenting proposal in 2003, today passed it without dissent, despite a letter-writing campaign from some churches and concerted lobbying from the Australian Christian Lobby.

Several members who voted against the proposal in 2003 stated they were convinced to change their position by the personal stories of same-sex couples with children.

“As far as I know, this is the first time any Australian legislative chamber has endorsed a same-sex parenting law without dissent, and for it to be the Tasmanian Legislative Council is a sure sign of how profoundly Tasmania has changed in recent years,” Mr Croome said.

“When historians ask how it was this change occurred they will conclude that the quietest voices spoke the loudest.”

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