The ACT government passed legislation to allow formal ceremonies in their Civil Partnerships legislation on November 11. (Click here for media report.)
The Bill was proposed by the Greens - the Labor government supported it but amended it to ONLY allow legally binding ceremonies for same-sex couples. The ACT Attorney-General said this was because, if heterosexual couples had a ‘ceremony’, then it could be claimed this mimicked marriage.
The Civil Partnerships Act, which was passed in 2008, allows heterosexual and homosexual couples to register a ‘civil partnership’.
Now same-sex couples will be allowed to have a ceremony to register their civil partnership.
Some groups have called on the federal government to overturn the new law, on the basis that it mimics marriage by having a ceremony.
This includes the Baptists and Catholic Archbishop Mark Coleridge (click here for his media statement).
Since we oppose any registration of homosexual relationships, we oppose this new move to add a 'ceremony'.
We'll have to wait and see how Mr Rudd responds!
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