160,000 ready to celebrate if Christian couple divorces over gay marriage
Over 160,000 people have said they will celebrate the day a Christian couple file for divorce if same-sex marriage is passed in Australia.
Canberra Christian advocate Nick Jensen wrote for an online news site to say that if the Australian government introduced same-sex marriage, he and his wife would be forced to divorce.
He wrote: “It raises a red flag when a government decides it is not content only having sovereignty over land, taxes and the military — but ‘words’ themselves.
“This is why we are willing to divorce. By changing the definition of marriage, ‘marriage’ will, in years to come, have an altogether different sense and purpose.”
The Facebook page, which sets 1 September as a placeholder date for celebration, to be confirmed if and when legislation goes through, encourages celebration of the couple’s divorce.
The page reads: “They have decided that being married together in a country where it’s legal for a man and a man to marry, or a woman and a woman, is just too horrible. They’d much rather be divorced and I think we should all support and celebrate in their decision when the date finally does come.
“We sure hope there won’t be any backing out on their behalf as hundreds upon hundreds of gays and gay rights supporters come to rejoice in the parting ways of these narrow minded citizens which so many of us are ashamed to call Canberrans.”
Despite their scary threat, however, the couple would find it difficult to divorce, as the Family Law Act states that both parties have to separate and live separately for at least twelve months in order to divorce.
It is unclear whether the couple would actually live apart, but they said in their original column that they would continue to refer to each other as ‘husband’ and ‘wife’, and would still consider themselves ‘married’, despite that they would attempt to legally end their marriage.
A woman who knows the couple has, since their column was published, banned them from her wedding.
Writing for news.com.au, Anne Haggar said she had attended the Jensen’s wedding ten years ago, as they had been at school together.
Efforts to legalise same-sex marriage in Australia have so far failed, however there have been increasing calls for gay and lesbian couples to have the right to get married.
