Cousins Kirstie and Lyle Fisher talk to SBS Insight about their relationship

KIRSTIE and Lyle Fisher are happy, in love and are the proud parents of four children. They are also first cousins. Shocked? Appalled? They say you shouldn't be.

KIRSTIE and Lyle Fisher are happy, in love and are the proud parents of four children.

They are also first cousins.

Shocked? Appalled? Think that's just plain weird?

Well they don't, and they say you shouldn't think so either.

The Perth couple, who have been together for more than six years, say there's nothing wrong with their relationship, and it's not illegal - it's just different to others.

"People are allowed their opinion but that doesn't change who I am as a person," Ms Fisher told news.com.au.

"We are happy and in love - some people go their whole lives without finding that - and we have happy, healthy, beautiful children and don't care what anyone else thinks."

The Fishers, whose fathers are brothers, didn't grow up together and it wasn't until Kirstie was nine and Lyle 12 that they met for the first time and instantly formed a bond.

Over the years their feelings grew deeper and they knew they wanted to be together, but thought it easier not to take that next step.

Ms Fisher had daughter Miranda, eight, to another man, but realised the only way she would ever be happy was if she could be with the one person she thought she couldn't have - her cousin.

The couple kept their relationship a secret, thinking it was wrong and that their families would never understand, but eventually they could hide it no longer.

While the revelation did shock their families, most came to accept them as a couple, although some of their friends never could.

Mr Fisher's mother researched potential genetic problems with offspring and was the one who told them it wasn't illegal to be together or get married.

"Nobody can say anything we haven't heard before," Ms Fisher said.

Kirstie and Lyle Fisher with children Miranda and Alex. Picture: Courtesy SBS

"We've heard comments from 'Your kids will have two heads' to 'It's wrong and illegal'. But it isn't. At the end of the day, we can get married, yet gay and lesbian people can't - so what's really wrong with this picture?"

Their children - Miranda, 8, Alex, 4, and Zac, seven months - will be told about how their parents met when they are old enough to understand. Their third child, Danika, died from complications during childbirth 18 months ago.

The Fishers, now 28 and 31, never considered genetic testing and the three children they've had together haven't had any genetic issues.

The Fishers are one of several couples to appear on Insighttonight on SBS One to talk about an issue which remains a taboo to many people.

The program will hear from Doctor Greg Jenkins, an obstetrician at Sydney's Auburn Hospital, who says there are significant increases in the risk of detrimental outcomes for the children of cousin couples, including birth defects, still births, miscarriages and pre-term babies.

But genetics Professor Alan Bittles from Murdoch University, who will also appear on the show,believes there has been a major overstatement of the ill effects of cousin relationships and that this has led to unnecessary stigma.

He says a couple who are not related by blood have a three to four per cent chance of having a child with a congenital abnormality. When it comes to couples who are cousins, that rate rises three to six per cent.

Burak Haliloglu is less enthusiastic about cousin relationships. He will reveal how he feels under pressure from his mother to marry a cousin back in Turkey.

His parents are first cousins once removed and, although he respects their relationship, he doesn't want to enter into one himself.

Hythem and Leena Damouny are first cousins and have been married for almost 30 years but don't want their adult children to follow in their footsteps. They have been warned that their children should not marry their cousins because it could create genetic problems for their

offspring.

Insight airs tonight at 8.30pm on SBS ONE.

Continue the conversation via Twitter @newscomauHQ | @DebKillalea | @InsightSBS

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