Australian Marriage Equality has hailed yesterday's hearing in the Senate marriage equality inquiry as a turning point in the marriage equality debate.
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ALP Senator
Trish Crossin, Chair of the Senate's Legal and Constitutional
Affairs Committee.
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"Thanks to probing questions from Senators, for the first time ever, opponents of equality were forced to explain and justify their positions, which they had great difficulty doing", Mr Croome said.
"It was also significant that the inquiry heard not only from human rights advocates but from academics, couples and religious figures in favour of equality."
"This showed that marriage equality is a broad-based movement, as well as a just cause."
"Yesterday's hearing was a turning point because it exposed the shallowness of the case against equality and saw the emergence, from many different voices, of one single compelling clarion call for respect and recognition."
The hearing heard from a range of groups including Australian Marriage Equality, PFLAG, the Australian Christian Lobby, the Catholic Church, Liberty Victoria and Australian Coalition for Equality.
But Mr Croome said some of the most compelling submissions came from couples directly affected by marriage discrimination and from religious leaders supportive of equality.
The inquiry, which received over 10,000 submissions in favour of marriage equality, is due to report on 26 November 2009.