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Shelley
Argent OAM Member of the Queensland Branch of AME |
An inquiry into treatment of same-sex couples by the Australian government has heard an impassioned plea from the mother of a gay man.
"The Federal Government is really persecuting the gays for something they can't help," Shelley Argent told the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission."It's like the South Africans. They persecuted the blacks for something they couldn't help."
Argent told the commission that the root of the discrimination by the government of Prime Minister John Howard is a money grab.
"My son is in a career where he has received bravery citations and regularly puts his life on the line every day. The present Federal Government is quick to accept the taxes my son and his partner pay, without a twinge of conscience, and give nothing in return," she said.
"The Government profits by ignoring same-sex couples because they miss out on the rebates and benefits they'd receive if seen as a couple."
The Australian government in 2004 passed legislation limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples.