Denying same-sex couples access to the family court unfairly discriminates against their children.

On April 30th, 2008 The Age speculated that there would be an end to discrimination against same-sex couples on many fronts, but whether or not they would have access to the family court was still being resolved.

What on earth is the problem?  It seems obvious to me that denying them access discriminates against the children born into same-sex families.  Children involved in court cases, particularly custody battles, can suffer severe stress and long term harm (I have vivid memories of my parent’s court cases in the late 1970s).  The Family Court now has procedures and policies in place to protect children from messy adversarial court cases.  At present, children of heterosexual couples benefit from this protection whether or not their parents are married.  To deny same-sex couples access to the family court is to deny children of same-sex couples the same protection children of heterosexual couples enjoy.  In my opinion, this is blatant and harmful discrimination. 

Without the family court, same-sex couples are forced to settle their differences in the civil courts that lack policies and regulations to protect families from damaging adversarial court cases.  The Family Court of Australia requires that couples attempt alternative forms of dispute resolution before taking their case to court; appearing before a judge is a last resort and even then, a less adversarial trial is conducted with the interests of the children paramount.  The civil courts are under no compulsion to give children this protection.

To deny same-sex couples access to the family courts is to expose a small portion of our community’s children to a potentially stressful legal process; it condemns them to the equivalent of the dark ages of family law.  Again I ask: What is the problem?

UPDATE 12/08/08: Yey! Full access to the family court for everyone!