Marriage amendment update

As most of you know, in late May, John Howard had his Marriage Legislation Amendment Bill 2004 tabled in Parliament. This was done to reaffirm the heterosexual nature of marriage, and to prevent this important institution from being hijacked by radical lobby groups who seek to redefine marriage and family in their own image.

As of this writing, it has not yet been debated in the House or in the Senate. Labor has given it qualified support, saying it would keep marriage as being between a man and a woman, but Labor backbenchers have been saying they wish to add a number of pro-homosexual amendments to the bill.

While the Bill does not do everything we would have liked, it is a step in the right direction. It does not nail down the definition of what a male and what a female is, thus allowing the Courts to bring same-sex marriage in through the back door, by allowing transsexuals to marry, and so on.

And while it will disallow same-sex adoptions from overseas, it will not interfere with the States and Territories on the matter. The ACT, WA, and to a lesser extent, Tasmania, currently have same-sex adoption rights.

What the bill will do is prevent same-sex couples from going overseas, getting "married", and returning to Australia, demanding that the unions be recognised. Thus it goes some way in shoring up the beleaguered institution of marriage.

ACTION

We all need to keep the pressure up. Please contact your local MHR's and Senators and urge them to support this legislation (although we need to see what and if Labor attaches to it.)