Friday 4 May 2012

ParlInfo - Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee : 03/05/2012 : Marriage Equality Amendment Bill 2010

ParlInfo - Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee : 03/05/2012 : Marriage Equality Amendment Bill 2010

Senator PRATT: But what if someone is of indeterminate gender? I am unclear whether they should have the right, according to the way you would argue it, to be part of such a union.

Mr Meney : People suffering from Turner syndrome, Klinefelter syndrome and things of that ilk are typically infertile or regarded as being mentally handicapped in some way. Many things about marriage require people to have the capacity to consent to what marriage is all about, so a significant mental incapacity might be something that might mitigate against a person being able to consent to a contract of marriage. But that is true of any marriage.

Rev. Slucki : I think we are coming up against statute law, which wants to try and make provision for every eventuality, as opposed to common law, which tries to do the right thing in principle for the overwhelming majority. That is what this tried and true definition of marriage is—it for the overwhelming majority. The definition we have at the moment has worked well throughout the centuries and that is what we should stick with. Yes, there are unusual instances. But I think we get into dangers and difficulties when we try to fit every eventuality into our laws. I do not think we should do that. I think we should leave it.
Mr Meney is the Director of the Life, Marriage & Family Centre, Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney, and speaking in his official capacity.
Although they are not mentally retarded, most XXY males have some degree of language impairment. As children, they often learn to speak much later than do other children and may have difficulty learning to read and write.
-- Understanding Klinefelter Syndrome -- National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
Mental retardation is not a feature of Turner syndrome, despite such claims in older medical textbooks. Thorough psychological studies show that these women are normal intellectually, but often have a characteristic pattern of intellectual functioning. While their verbal 10 usually is average or above, their non-verbal IQ may be considerably lower because of problems visualizing objects in relation to each other. This difficulty may show up in poor performance in math, geometry, and tasks requiring manual dexterity or sense of direction.
- Turner Syndrome -- Human Growth Foundation.

In other news, and contrary to "older textbooks" and the historical belief of the Catholic Church (and that of the SSPX today), the Sun does not orbit the Earth. Eppur Si Muove.

As for the Reverend Slucki, Convener, Church and Nation Committee, Presbyterian Church of Australia, had his ideology been adopted, his distinctly minority non-conforming "Church" would have remain illegitimated and unrecognised. Legally illegitimate, rather than actually, I mean. The bastardry in his testimony speaks for itself.

 Sometimes it's difficult to remember such pious, God-Fearing and sanctimonious fools mean well. They're just smugly ignorant.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Yes, the God-fearing are smugly ignorant, but then again I have been and will be again. In this case his common law simply lacks sense as you point out so well.