“There has been a sea change around the world … the trend is only going one way,” federal Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull said in the wake of the US Supreme Court’s landmark ruling that state bans on same-sex marriages were unconstitutional.

There is no rational argument against same-sex marriage. Those that argue marriage is about reproduction are slapping infertile couples in the face, not to mention the married couples who have chosen not to breed for their own reasons.

The argument that it goes against the Bible forces one set of religious beliefs on all, in much the same way that Sharia law does. It also falsely suggests Christians have a monopoly on marriage.

The argument that a child needs a mother and a father has been rebuffed by the likes of the Australian Psychological Society, the American Psychological Association, and the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy. It’s also doing an incredible disservice to the hard-working single and widowed parents of the world.

The fact is the introduction of same-sex marriage will have no effect on anyone except the loving couples who get to share the same privilege as heterosexual couples. 

It is for all these reasons The Standard supports same-sex marriage. Also, we don’t support discrimination.