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Update:

Surprise "gay marriage" move in Australia. Stalled in national Parliament, but unusual bill passes House in Tasmania State Legislature

POSTED: Sept. 3, 2012

It appears that the pro-family forces have the upper hand in the "gay marriage" battle in Australia. But it's still very tenuous.

Stalled, and possibly dying, in National Parliament

As we've reported the "gay marriage" fight has reached Australia. A bill is before the National Parliament and was expected to be voted on last month. But it's been stalled by a combination of other pressing business and relentless pro-family lobbying (including activists sending our MassResistance booklet on "What same-sex 'marriage' has done to Massachusetts" to every member of Parliament).

So right now, according to the Sydney Morning Herald:

[The] bill to legalise same-sex marriage is before Federal Parliament and a vote is expected before the end of the year. But as things stand, the bill, introduced by Labor backbencher Stephen Jones, looks likely to be defeated by the combined forces of its Labor opponents - including Prime Minister Julia Gillard - and the Coalition.

But passes lower House in Tasmania Parliament

But as we also recently reported, the Tasmania State Parliament has decided it couldn't wait for the Australian National Parliament to make up its mind, and had its own "gay marriage" bill in the works.

Tasmania Premier Lara Giddings co-sponsored the "gay marriage" bill. [Sydney Morning Herald photo.]

This past week the Tasmania homosexual lobby was in high gear, and fairly suddenly got the bill passed in the lower house of the state Parliament! This took a lot of pro-family activists by surprise. It now goes to the upper house, the Senate, and pro-family activists have told us they're having to scramble to stop it there.

Interesting hurdles

However, according to reports we've studied, including the Sydney Morning Herald and even one of the homosexual blogs there are still some interesting hurdles to deal with:

  • The bill what was passed creates a SEPARATE kind of marriage called "gay marriage" which is apparently different than regular marriage! We've never seen anything quite like it. You can read the bill HERE.

  • Passage in the Senate is not assured, as 13 of the 15 members are "independent" and not constrained by party lines to vote for it.

  • Australia Constitution says that marriage is defined by the federal government, not the state governments. So this will bring up a legal challenge which the homosexual lobby is likely to lose.

Thus, there's still a lot yet to happen

No one's backing down

Nevertheless, the homosexual lobby and the pro-family groups are both fighting hard on this. Our side certainly wants to take no chances that this will actually become law. We will keep you up to date.