'When did people start turning love into a battlefield?'

"BY VOTING no you may be tearing your future child, grandchild or child's heart in half, it's not about you. It's about no one. It's about equality”: OPINION

The marriage debate is about nothing more or less than whether fellow human beings can be allowed equality, says Bill Hoffman. Picture: JOEL CARRETT

Homosexual. Bisexual. Heterosexual. Asexual. Intersexual. Pansexual.

Why do we label and limit love? Since when do we ban and control feelings for others?

If you as a 'heterosexual' woman/man are in a relationship, ask yourself does it affect anyone else around you? Does your love affect people in the street, in the supermarket, does it have an effect on anyone's life at work because you love a man/woman? No because love is a good thing, and your relationship is your relationship. It's your life. So why in a world full of so much hate, are we fighting and saying no to more love? Shouldn't we be relieved that even in today's world people still want to love, in this world full of fighting why are we making love into war. What happened to the saying 'make love not war', when did people start turning love into a battlefield?

Love isn't unkind, love isn't racist, homophobic, it is a feeling, not a biased thought controlled and dictated by only one definition.

Gay marriage is not a topic in which an opinion is needed in order for it to be allowed. Honestly it should not be a topic at all. You are allowed to have an opinion, but to stop someone you don't even know from being happy, isn't. That is pure selfishness. If you don't like it fine, but just because I don't like coriander doesn't mean I've gone and burnt every plant to the ground, it just means I learn to co-exist with it and accept others love for it. So just because you don't like gays (I can't change your feelings but I can agree to strongly disagree), voting yes won't mean you become one, it just means we can all co-exist equally.

The opposing team in this marriage equality debate are saying that they find the labels they are being given, offensive and wrong (homophobes etc) despite the fact they have been labelling and shaming the LGBTQI community for years, they stand and say that they support them but feel that only a man and woman should marry. They say that they think gay relationships are 'allowed' however by them voting no they are then saying that they are not worthy of marriage unlike heterosexuals, which contradicts their 'support'.

So please vote yes. Vote yes for your children. By voting no you may be tearing your future child, grandchild or child's heart in half, it's not about you. It's about no one. It's about equality. We haven't fought this long and hard for gender equity and racial equity, we haven't fought for equality only to turn around now and make equality limited to some. Equal is equal, it shouldn't only look the same but also feel the same. Life is more than just religion, it's the people, its love. Its life. Don't be the reason why someone can't have one.

This isn't about opinions, this is about human rights.