My family and myself are most appreciative of what they have done to my husband’s grave who was buried there last November and now that his headstone is in place and his grave so well tended it’s very comforting for us, as I am sure it is for the families of other people buried there.

Of course there are some graves of people whose families do not live in the area and would not even know. Sadly, I do not even know the names of these kind men, but they know who they are and I guess so do their families and others. On behalf of the people whose loved ones’ graves are being so well cared for, thank you. You are the best.

I will be voting YES for changes to the marriage act to recognise the marriage between same sex couples. Why? It’s simple and obvious. All Australians should be equal under our law and we should not have different ‘classes’ of Australians based on gender or sexual orientation.

Human characteristics that are much more important than gender are first and foremost; kindness, understanding, honesty, courage, and empathy for all others and for the world. These are the kind of people I admire and respect most of all.

Vote yes. Vote and make sure all Australians are treated equally and any couple may legally marry.

And if you disagree, that’s fine. But be nice about it and respect those who support same sex marriage, especially those same sex couples who are denied a right by law to marry today.

Those of us who thought, like the old song, that “love and marriage go together like a horse and carriage” have had a lot of confusing information thrown at us recently about same-sex couples and the way their non-marriages give them all the same rights as married people.

My wife and I were surprised, therefore, to attend the Roads and Maritime Service Centre last week to change our car registration, where we were asked to produce our marriage certificate.

This led me to wonder what other equal rights might not be there, particularly when my daughter, currently unable to marry her long-time partner, gets to our age.

Will she be asked for a marriage certificate if her not legally recognised wife is in hospital, or worse? Australia Post apparently charges hundreds of dollars for a name change, but not if you can provide a – you guessed it – marriage certificate.

Those who oppose same sex marriage are resting their hopes on the oldies like me. But if you think we are going to support discrimination against our own kids and grandkids, you are about to be very disappointed. My daughter doesn’t need my permission to get married. But she needs yours. Please join me in voting yes.