NZ Herald 8 August 2012
An online petition opposing the legalisation of same-sex marriage has been signed by nearly 20,000 people in its first week. Conservative lobby group Family First launched the petition on its protectmarriage.co.nz website last Monday, as part of its campaign against the marriage equality bill put forward by Labour MP Louisa Wall. It had gathered 19,928 signatures by 6am this morning. The petition statement reads: “I support the definition of marriage in New Zealand being maintained as one man one woman. I oppose any attempt to redefine it.” Family First national director Bob McCoskrie said the response was “great news” after a series of early setbacks for the website. It was taken offline on its first day by a large scale denial of service attack before coming under fire from US band Train for using their song ‘Marry Me’ without permission. “There is no shortage of energy and robust debate – and on such an important issue as the role and purpose of marriage, that’s great news,” Mr McCoskrie said. “We have been calling for recognition of the value and importance of marriage for a long time. Although distracted by the ‘definition’ debate, it is still a great opportunity to promote marriage and its important function and purpose in our culture.”
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Nearly 20,000 sign against same-sex marriage
