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Influential NZ lobbyist rejects state marriage

FollowingHim

FollowingHim

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New Zealand introduced gay marriage last year. The lobby group Family First was the central organisation opposing gay marriage and supporting the traditional Christian monogamous heterosexual position. After losing that fight they've taken a long time to consider how best to respond.

Now the head of Family First has ceased to be a marriage celebrant, but posted this article stating that he is still going to perform weddings and the couple can choose for themselves whether to bother registering their marriage at the registry office.
http://www.familyfirst.org.nz/2014/02/ive-resigned-as-a-marriage-celebrant/

This is a very positive move against state marriage. Although Family First still opposes polygamy (despite my occasional efforts to change that :D ), rejecting state marriage and affirming that marriage is not the role of government is a very positive move. Will hopefully get some people thinking about what really constitutes marriage.
 
Getting the government out of marriage is a much better position legalizing polygamy, IMHO. Although, if a government will do that, there'll be the issue of revenue from the registrations. There'll be problems also with other matters such as children, properties, benefits, etc. A massive overhaul of a country's family code or law is needed.
 
Agreed we should get the government out of marriage rather than having state recognition of polygamy.

The revenue should basically be supporting the registration system itself, without marriage registration you cut those costs so shouldn't end up in a revenue hole. Legal issues like custody aren't really a problem either. As our societies have come to accept cohabitation without formal marriage the legal systems have adapted to cater for them. In New Zealand now, once you've been living together for 3 years, there is essentially no difference in legal rights between cohabitating and married couples. Our laws are somewhat further down this track than many countries, however that's the direction things are headed. This "massive overhaul" of the law is actually not that big a change, and is already well advanced in many jurisdictions.
 
FollowingHim - really appreciate you following the technical/governmental aspects of PM. Thanks for posting.
 
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