Coalition, Labor pass same-sex marriage ban.
13/08/2004.
ABC News Online
Last Update: Friday, August 13,
2004. 7:55pm (AEST)
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The legislation defines marriage as the union of a man and a woman. (Lateline)
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Coalition, Labor pass same-sex marriage ban
Federal Parliament has approved a ban on same-sex marriage, with the legislation passing
the Senate with Labor's support.
The Government and the Opposition used their numbers to cut short debate on the bill,
the first time the "guillotine" power has been used since December 2002.
The legislation defines marriage as the union of a man and a woman.
Greens Senator Bob Brown has questioned how the ban will work.
"I've got friends in this position, now is their marriage valid or not?" he asked.
"What's going to happen? Are people going to arrive and say, 'Where's your marriage certificate,
give it to us, we're going to rip it up'?
"What's Mr Howard going to do?"
Democrats' leader Andrew Bartlett made an emotional attack on the ban.
Senator Bartlett says in the past Aborigines had to seek permission for an inter-racial
marriage.
He says the legislation is discriminatory and should not be supported.
"It devalues my marriage. That it's something that only a certain number of people in
the community can have access to and others can't purely because... they were born who they are, this is why this offends
me so much," Senator Bartlett said
"To say that it defends marriage, when it degrades it so much, is something I find extraordinarily
upsetting."
Gay rights groups have condemned the law.
Rodney Croome, from the Equal Rights Network, says gay and lesbian couples deserve to
hear the major parties explain why they are determined to curtail basic human rights.
"This is a very dark day in Australian history," Mr Croome said.
"This new legislation carves into legislative stone the second class status of same-sex
relationships."
