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Royal Australian College of General Practitioners endorses marriage equality after backlash over neutral stance

Kate Aubusson
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The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners has abandoned its neutral position on same-sex marriage in support of the 'yes' vote after suffering heavy criticism from its members and the wider community.

The RACGP published a new position statement on Monday night strongly endorsing marriage equality days after it was lambasted online and by its own membership for not backing the move as other medical organisations and individual GPs have done.

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Federal Labor Senator Penny Wong says the ALP has a free vote on marriage equality and the "overwhelming majority" of senators and MPs will vote yes.

On Friday, the College confirmed to Australian Doctor that it had not taken a unified stance on the issue despite its own curriculum emphasising GPs had an "important role in advocating to reduce discrimination" against LGBTIQ patients.

"RACGP council discussed the issue of marriage equality at the August council meeting. Council acknowledged that the organisation has a diverse membership of more than 35,000 GPs with a range of views. Council believes that for this matter members should consider the issues involved carefully for themselves," college president Bastian Seidel told the publication.

But in the new position statement, Dr Seidel called marriage equality "a human rights issue".

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"The RACGP acknowledges that discrimination, bullying and harassment of LGBTIQ people does have a severe, damaging impact on mental and physical health outcomes for affected individuals, their families and communities," the statement read.

"The RACGP Council strongly endorses equality and inclusion regardless of race or ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation, religion or disability in all aspects of life, in particular, education, employment, medical care, relationships and certainly marriage," the statement read.

Dr Seidel said the college had initially chosen to take a neutral stance "in order not to add to the debate" around the public vote that had caused "significant distress" to LGBTIQ members and patients.

"However, it is clear to me – as it is to RACGP Council – that the broader RACGP membership expects an explicit position statement on issues that affect the mental health of our LGBTIQ members, colleagues and patients. This includes marriage equality," Dr Seidel said.

He said RACGP could no longer afford to sit on the fence when it came to any issue that affected members or patients.

"We no longer need and no longer can rely on other medical groups or lobbyists to represent the interests of our membership or the profession of general practice. Our members have made this very clear over the last few days," he said. 

Peak bodies representing doctors that have come out in support of marriage equality include the Australian Medical Association, and medical colleges representing physicians, psychiatrists, anaesthetists and obstetricians and gynaecologists and radiologists.

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