This petition is about LGBT (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender) rights surrounding marriage and adoption. This is an important social issue in New Zealand because it affects many people. It affects the LGBT people of New Zealand because it prevents them from marrying the person they love, or adopting a child, and living the life they want. It also affects the population of New Zealand as a whole because if same-sex marriage and adoption is illegal, it enforces the (wrong) idea that LGBT people are separate and should be treated differently. This is an ongoing problem especially with young children, because many of them use the words gay, lesbian, bi, etc to insult others, and imply (if unknowingly) the being LGBT is bad. If same-sex marriage and adoption were allowed, it would show people the LGBT people deserve to be treated the same as everyone else and that being LGBT is not a bad thing. Also, because same-sex marriage isn’t allowed, it would probably cause LGBT people to doubt themselves, and think that there is maybe something wrong with them, and that they need to be straight (which is not the case). If same-sex marriage and adoption was legal in New Zealand, it might also encourage other countries to legalize same-sex marriage and adoption.