The issue of same-sex marriage in Australia is fraught with associated problems that confuse the central issue. These problems range from a residual opposition to same-sex relationships on the social and political level to the religious consciences of those who see them as sinful and immoral.

Opponents of same-sex marriage claim that allowing such couples to marry will lead to a degrading of marriage in society and, indeed, to the value of family life itself. Simply speaking, the floodgates will open and society will be consigned to the slippery slope where values and morals become redundant. Understandably, emotions are running high.

Rather than have recourse to the classical history of ancient Rome and Greece where, it is claimed, same-sex marriages were accepted and formalised (until proscribed in the Christian Church by the Theodosian Code of 324 CE) it would be more illuminating to scrutinise more recent history.

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Photo: Coin featuring the Emperor Theodosius II