True love triumphs

A same-sex couple have been ‘married’ on the Gold Coast in an Australian first.

On Saturday Carly Naughton and Alee Fogarty were wed in a ceremony in Surfers Paradise, the first couple in the country to marry under the Evermore Pledge.

The pledge is a legal package which allows same-sex couples to address issues that married couples face such as power of attorney, next of kin, assets, investments and beneficiaries – all under the one umbrella. It also includes a personalised lover’s contract.

And while the pledge cannot be legally called a marriage under the Marriage Act, it is the closest thing same-sex couples could have to replicate a marriage, according to celebrant Michelle Anderson.

Ms Anderson said she came up with the pledge after debating with her partner, Greg, about why people wanted to get married.

“If you ask a straight couple why they want to get married they say they’re in love, if you ask a gay couple the answers are very educated,” she said.

“People want to be able to go to hospital when their partner is sick, or (are concerned) about superannuation.

“We’ve taken the government out of it ... we dissected the definition of marriage and put it back together.”

She said the pledge wasn’t the answer to the same-sex marriage debate, but it was a solid temporary solution that was more than a commitment ceremony.

For newlyweds Ms Naughton and Ms Fogarty, the legal package behind the marriage celebration meant they felt more secure in their future.

“We’ve been engaged for ages and didn’t think it would go further than that,” Ms Naughton said.

“It was an empty promise to each other. (Marriage) is for people in love, but for us it’s more than that.

“It’s securing our futures, whether we’re terminally ill, incapacitated or someone dies.”

Ms Naughton said it was even more important now that they had Oakland, their twoyear-old son through IVF.

Despite the step forward, Ms Naughton said she was angry there was still no marriage equality.

“I feel like a second-class citizen in my own country,” she said.

Picture: JERAD WILLIAMS Alee Jane Fogarty and Carly Naughton with their son Oakland Naughton-Fogarty, 2. The couple is the first in Australia to take the Evermore Pledge.