Marriage Equality

I just want you to imagine with me for a moment.

Imagine you've found a person that completes you, that makes you feel happiness that you never thought possible.

They make you laugh.

They wipe away your tears.

You melt in their embrace.

Their kisses leave you breathless.

Their body, mind and soul, fit yours in what can only be described as perfection. To say you're in love with this person, is almost an understatement. You adore them. Everything they are, and everything they do.

Finally, the time in your lives comes when you want to be bonded together in a meaningful, significant way. You want to get married.

Now imagine, that you encounter a problem.

Nothing is wrong with the rings, a sparkling matching set. It's not that you're not in love, you're love is pure and unhindered. The problem, is an outdated law. One that needed to be challenged years ago.

By now you will have realised that I've been asking you to imagine this scenario without hinting at gender, or sexuality. You filled that in yourself though, didn't you? So now that I revealed that this scenario was based on a homosexual couple, don't you see that no matter the gender, the feelings are exactly the same? When it comes down to it, love is love.

This is a country where we pride ourselves in our equality. After all, we were the first country to give women the vote- a fact that many New Zealander's are able to recall with pride in their hearts!

Yet when it comes to something as joyous, and beautiful as two people joining as one in marriage, for some of our citizens, because of that one outdated law, it gets so much more complicated.

Love, just like marriage, is beautiful. So let's make marriage, just like love, free for all.

Please support the gay marriage bill that is being reviewed by the NZ government! Support equal rights for all NZ citizens!

(Hannah Stevenson, 17 y/o. 30/07/2012)