ABSTRACT
In Australia, on the 29 November 2017 the Australian Senate passed the Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Bill 2017 which changed existing legislation to define marriage as a union between two people. This was the culmination of at least 15 years of activism for marriage equality by the LGBTQ community. In March 2018, Mardi Gras profiled not only the first wave of activist (the 78ers) but also marriage equality. For many, marriage equality was seen as the last great reform. This chapter explore how this notion of ‘equality’ before the law shapes the experiences of mothering of lesbian parents. It argues that adopting a feminist intersectional lens problematises this notion of ‘equality’ and ensures a far more nuanced understanding to emerge. Marriage equality has found equivocal support among lesbian parents influenced by and expressing feminist critiques of patriarchal institutions such as marriage. For these lesbian parents’ marriage equality was far less urgent than wage equality or a decent social wage. Economic gender equality has greatest urgency for working-class lesbians who live outside inner-city urban professional networks. Mothering for these lesbian parents is shaped by the everyday struggle to provide adequate shelter, food and opportunities for their children. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander lesbian parents’ mother at the intersection of racism, homophobia and very often class. This intersection enables surveillance by the state of their mothering practices. For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander lesbian parents, recognition of their cultural rights and the protection of their children from white institutions is far more urgent than the right to marry. This chapter draws on in-depth interviews with lesbian parents at different time points of their mothering, blog posts on the Rainbow Families Facebook page and in keeping with feminist methodologies the author’s own experience as a lesbian parent.
