FreedummyRing
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Australia kills gay marriage legislation 35 minutes ago
SYDNEY (AFP) - Australia's conservative government has quashed a state law which would have allowed gay marriages in the nation's capital Canberra.
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The Australia Capital Territory (ACT) same-sex union laws, the first in the country, would have allowed gay and lesbian couples to enter into a civil union with the same recognition as marriage.
But Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said the measures had been disallowed.
"The legislative amendments introduced to establish a civil arrangement for same-sex parties and others in the ACT will no longer be law," he said.
The ACT bill was introduced in defiance of a federal law passed two years ago by the government of Prime Minister John Howard that formally defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
The ACT, like all other Australian states and territories, is controlled by the left-of-centre opposition Labor Party.
Howard said last week that the ACT bill was "plainly an attempt to mimic marriage under the misleading title of civil unions".
SYDNEY (AFP) - Australia's conservative government has quashed a state law which would have allowed gay marriages in the nation's capital Canberra.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Australia Capital Territory (ACT) same-sex union laws, the first in the country, would have allowed gay and lesbian couples to enter into a civil union with the same recognition as marriage.
But Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said the measures had been disallowed.
"The legislative amendments introduced to establish a civil arrangement for same-sex parties and others in the ACT will no longer be law," he said.
The ACT bill was introduced in defiance of a federal law passed two years ago by the government of Prime Minister John Howard that formally defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
The ACT, like all other Australian states and territories, is controlled by the left-of-centre opposition Labor Party.
Howard said last week that the ACT bill was "plainly an attempt to mimic marriage under the misleading title of civil unions".