Love Makes a Family Campaign
For over seven years, the Love Makes A Family Campaign has advocated for law reform in Victoria to remove discrimination for same-sex couples in accessing Assisted Reproductive Treatment and to provide legal recognition for our families. The Love Makes a Family community campaign was coordinated by the Rainbow Families Council, supported by the ALSO Foundation and the Victorian Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby. Read about the Campaign Aims.
The campaign has helped motivate and support people affected by the laws to have their say in the Commission’s Enquiry. It has also encouraged hundreds of people to contact their local Members of Parliament to convince them to support law reform. People have told their personal stories, sent in family photos, wrote letters to the papers, and visited local MPs.
In December 2008, the Victorian Parliament held a conscience vote on this issue. The law reform (the Assisted Reproductive Treatment (ART) Act) was passed by the Upper House on 4 Dec 2008, followed by loud cheers, applause and many tears. To read more about the changes, see Victorian Law Reforms - 2009 Update.
The Love Makes A Family Campaign has truly been a community effort. All of our emails, photos, visits and calls to Victorian MPs have had a huge impact in demonstrating the high level of community support for law reform.
The record of discussion in the Legislative Council (Upper House) can be found here; and the Bill may also be viewed here. See also our brief information on the Victorian Law Reforms.
[Federal Laws have also changed - read more on the changes to Federal Law (including Medicare Safety Net, Social Security and Family Assistance].
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HISTORY OF THE CAMPAIGN
Not all children have been treated equally under Victorian law.
Prior to the 2008 Victorian law reforms, same sex parented families were not recognised in Victorian laws. This meant that children in rainbow families had no automatic legal relationship with their non-birth/ non-biological parent or their siblings. Non-biological parents were not recognised on birth certificates, and could not consent to their child's medical treatment. Same sex couples were not able to use Victorian IVF clinics for fertility treatment, unless deemed 'medically infertile'.
In 2002 the Victorian Government asked the Victorian Law Reform Commission to conduct an enquiry into all laws relevant to reproductive technology and adoption, and their impacts on children, including those with same-sex parents.
During its five-year enquiry the Commission reviewed three decades of research and received over 1000 submissions. In June 2007 the Commission reported to the Government that:
- children are in no way disadvantaged by having same-sex parents, only by discriminatory laws and attitudes
- it is quality of parenting, not the sexual orientation or marital status of parents that determines outcomes for children
- children of same-sex parents are disadvantaged by laws that fail to recognise or protect their family relationships, and
- laws preventing same-sex couples and single people from accessing simple fertility procedures like donor insemination are unfair and undermine the health and wellbeing of children.
The Commission made 130 recommendations, including changing the law and birth certificates to recognise same-sex parented families, and removing discriminatory barriers to fertility treatment, adoption and surrogacy for same-sex couples and single people.
To read the report visit www.lawreform.vic.gov.au.
The Love Makes a Family community campaign was coordinated by the Rainbow Families Council, supported by the ALSO Foundation and the Victorian Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby. For several years it lobbied for legal and social recognition of same-sex parented children and their families.
The campaign helped motivate and support people affected by the laws to have their say in the Commission’s Enquiry. It also encouraged hundreds of people to contact their local Members of Parliament to convince them to support law reform. People told their personal stories, sent in family photos, wrote letters to the papers, and visited local MPs.
In December 2008, the Victorian Parliament held a conscience vote on this issue. The law reform was passed.
More information about the Love Makes A Family Campaign:
 MP Visits Handy Hints Sheet | downloads: 1025 | type: pdf | size: 333 kB |
How to find your MP, make an appointment, what you might say and FAQs. |
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| MP Visit Cheat Sheet | downloads: 1105 | type: pdf | size: 317 kB |
Summary of useful status and facts, including a table with current laws, impacts on children and families and relevant VLRC recommendations. |
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| "Three facts" flyer | downloads: 932 | type: pdf | size: 420 kB |
This plain language flyer explains what discrimination exists in Victoria against children and rainbow families, and how you can help. |
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Federal HREOC Same-Sex Same Entitlements report tabled in Parliament |
| Posted by Sarah Marlowe (sarah) on Jun 21 2007 at 11:20 PM |
Rainbow Families Council welcomes the final report of the federal Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission report, which found that 58 federal laws discriminate against same-sex couples, many of them also discriminating against children of same-sex couples.
The HREOC report called for same-sex couples to be included in the definition of de facto relationships in relevant federal laws, which "could help end daily discrimination suffered by more than 20,000 same-sex couples in Australia", according to the report, tabled in Federal Parliament today.
The Same-Sex: Same Entitlements Report, officially launched in Sydney on Friday 22 June by Australia’s Human Rights Commissioner Graeme Innes AM, found that 58 federal laws denied same-sex couples and their children basic financial and work-related entitlements available to opposite-sex couples and their children.
Chapter five of the report pays particular attention to the rights of children and families, and includes many quotes and personal stories from rainbow families. Rainbow Families Council made submissions to the Enquiry (as Fertility Access Rights Lobby) and congratulates all the individuals and families who spoke at the Melbourne hearings, and all those who wrote submissions.
Commissioner Graeme Innes said: “This discrimination is completely unfair. There are 58 federal laws breaching the most fundamental of human rights principles – non-discrimination, equality before the law and the best interests of the child.”
Mr Innes pointed out that same-sex couples often pay more tax than opposite-sex couples because of discrimination in tax law, yet they cannot expect the same entitlements in employment, workers’ compensation, veterans’ entitlements, health care subsidies, family law, superannuation, aged care and immigration law.
“Simple amendments to the definitions in a raft of federal laws would end this discrimination,” Mr Innes said.
President of HREOC, John von Doussa, who also led the Inquiry, said the discriminatory laws also have a negative impact on children.
“The Inquiry found that the best interests of children would be better protected if federal, state and territory laws changed to recognise the relationship between a child and both parents in a same-sex couple,” Mr von Doussa said.
The Same-Sex: Same Entitlementsreport is based on HREOC’s 2006 National Inquiry into discrimination against people in same-sex relationships in the area of financial and work-related entitlements. The Inquiry held public hearings and community forums around Australia and received 680 submissions covering a range of topics, many of which described first-hand the impact of discriminatory laws on same-sex couples and their children.
The final report is available online at www.humanrights.gov.au/human_rights/samesex/report/.
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