Hobbs Marian: Civil Union Bill — In Committee Procedure 
Hobbs Marian: Civil Union Bill — In Committee Procedure 
[Volume:622;Page:17600] 
Hon MARIAN HOBBS (Minister for the Environment) 
: 
 This is the second speech on this bill that I have given and I am pleased to do so. When I took my first call earlier today I focused a lot on the statement that somebody had quoted that marriage was a “breeding unit” and my objection to that term particularly as someone who was as I detailed brought up in the Catholic Church. Because I believe that relationships are not confined to having children otherwise why would we allow 70-year-olds to marry. If marriage is about those sorts of issues why— 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Because they are lonely that’s why. 
Hon MARIAN HOBBS 
: Yes. Marriage is not the only model of a loving relationship. I do not want to use my own words because many people who have written to us in the last few days have said this much better. One person wrote: “Love is still love at the end of the day and this is extremely important and does not become any less strong because the couple are lesbian or gay.” 
Others have been saying that people are worried about the erosion that this may cause to their concept of marriage. “I agree” says one writer “with many opponents to this bill who are worried about the erosion of the two-parent family. But the experience of my siblings who are all adopted and who came through from abuse and abandonment remind me that no institution marriage or civil union alone ensures the quality of a family’s care for its members.” 
Another person wrote: “Civil unions do not affect marriage. If we are addressing the sanctity of marriage we should be looking at shotgun weddings reality media weddings green card weddings extramarital affairs and divorce rates.” So members should not come in here and quote the sanctity of marriage and say that that is the only way relationships can go. 
Why do I support this bill? I support it because it gives people some options some choice. Some people here keep saying that these are only options for the rainbow community. That is not so. I have two letters on this. One says: “My partner and I have a beautiful baby girl”—they are a male and a female for those members who are going to get excited—“and we are a family despite what the Church and some of you would say. However in the current legislative climate we either have to be married or sign powers of attorney just to find out how one of us is going in hospital. The Civil Union Bill will help us with that.” 
Another person writes: “There have been many assertions by opponents of the bill that people in heterosexual relationships who do not wish to marry in a church can opt out of that by marriage in a civil ceremony. But that does not address the fundamental issue which is important to many modern people. We do not wish to be married with all of that institution’s traditional assumptions. We have formed a better more equal sort of relationship than that modelled by our parents’ generation with all its failings.” 
These heterosexual couples are beginning to say: “Civil union is an option for us.” 
Now I come to something that for me is really important. The thing that really moves me in this kaupapa is that I have seen during this debate and over the years since we have been fighting this issue absolute damage done to the gay and lesbian community. I have known that as a school principal and I have seen the hurt that has come into kids’ eyes. If people deny this particular legislation going through they will send the message: “You in the gay and lesbian community are not fit to form partnerships that are recognised by the State.” They will send the message to adolescents who already have an extremely high suicide rate in the gay community: “You are not worth being recognised.” That is not something I want to stand up for or have responsibility for. I want us to recognise and nurture all those people in their loving relationships and to have those relationships recognised by the State. 
I have a lovely quote here from a cleric: “Kia ora. I write to strongly support the passing of the Civil Union Bill. As a long-time educator and a Presbyterian minister of people in the caring professions and having been a chaplain in a psychiatric hospital I have had the opportunity to see the hurt and damage that has been caused by prejudice against homosexuals and the range of restrictions placed on them by a society only beginning to show loving and humanity in its collective actions and legislative enactments. It was a wonderful move made in the passing of the Homosexual Law Reform Bill almost two decades ago. Please ensure that we continue to move towards a healthy society.”