Same-sex marriage has been described as unconstitutional and evil during debate in NSW parliament. Source: AAP
SAME-SEX marriage has been variously described as unconstitutional, evil and inevitable during debate in the NSW parliament.
NSW on Thursday became the fourth Australian state or Territory, after Tasmania, South Australia and the ACT, to introduce a bill that would allow gay marriage.
If passed, it would erase discrimination from state law and help young people struggling with their sexuality, Labor MLC Penny Sharpe, a member of the working group which drafted the bill, said.
"There are still young people in this state who get up every day hoping that no one notices or no one asks if they are gay, a fag, a poof, a lezzo, a dyke or words much, much worse," Ms Sharpe said.
"I want every person who has struggled simply for being who they are ... to know there are people in the community who won't accept this discrimination."
Liberal MP John Ajaka told parliament state laws would simply create different classes of marriage across the country.
But same-sex marriage was "inevitable" in Australia given growing support in the community, Labor MP Walt Secord said.
Liberal MP Peter Phelps said he'd rather marriage be out of the reach of all governments, while Christian Democratic MP Fred Nile warned the bill threatened to undermine the "sacred institution" of marriage between a man and a woman.
In an article in the Sydney gay community newspaper, The Star Observer, NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell re-stated his preference for national same-sex marriage laws to avoid a "patchwork quilt" of state legislation.
Only a change to the federal Marriage Act would deliver marriage equality, he wrote.
Outside parliament a throng of protesters gathered to rally against the bill, holding up signs reading "God Loves Sinners, But Hates Sin" and singing hymns.
Protester Ken Higgs, 61, of Taree, said same-sex marriage was "evil".
"Of course it's evil. It's a perversion of the concept of marriage," he told AAP.
The ACT passed same-sex marriage laws, to come into effect on November 7 - only to face a possible High Court challenge by December.
On Tuesday an attempt to revive Tasmania's same-sex marriage debate in the state's upper house was voted down.
The South Australian parliament threw out a gay marriage bill after it was introduced in June.
Attempts to allowing same-sex marriage have also been rejected in the federal parliament.
The NSW bill had been carefully drafted to withstand potential High Court challenges, Penny Sharpe told ABC Radio.
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