Tasmania to try for marriage equality again

Tasmania to try for marriage equality again

Ruth Forrest Murchison MLCTasmanian politicians may once again attempt to legislate for marriage equality later this year, after a vote on the reform last September narrowly failed to pass the state’s Upper House.

Independent Murchison MLC Ruth Forrest (pictured) has indicated she will move a motion on Tuesday, October 15 to gauge whether there is support amongst other MLCs to debate state-based marriage laws for Tasmania when Parliament resumes in under two weeks.

The move comes ahead of a report from the Tasmanian Law Reform Institute, to be released next week, that will provide new information on the constitutional concerns raised by members in the last debate in Tasmania’s parliament just over 12 months ago, which saw same-sex marriage laws fail to pass the Upper House with a vote of six-to-eight against.

Forrest also wants her Upper House colleagues to analyse a recent New South Wales parliamentary inquiry, which ruled that states do have the power to introduce their own same-sex marriage laws.

“It is not support for the bill but respect for the process, that this information that was needed last time is now available, and we give it another chance,” Forrest said.

Responding to Forrest’s announcement, Independent MLC Rosemary Armitage told the ABC that she was not particularly swayed by the new developments.

“It should be left in the federal arena and perhaps we should be dealing at the moment with a lot of the legislation we actually have before us on the books,” Armitage said.

Windermere MLC Ivan Dean told The Examiner that he too was also against a re-examination of the issue.

“I realise that other people have looked at this and other lawyers have a position on this issue, and it is so much up in the air that nobody knows what is going on, but without a doubt, it is a federal issue,” Dean said.

“We have dealt with this matter not that long ago, and it should not be coming back now.”

The Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) has also voiced its opposition, with the ACL’s Tasmanian director, Mark Brown, saying it was “legislation by fatigue” and voters wanted to move on.

“Tasmania has an economy in dire straits and yet some of our politicians are more interested in a third go at euthanasia, a second go at same-sex marriage and a draconian abortion bill,” he said.

“There is no new information from New South Wales – the legal advice remains the same. It is likely that any attempt to usurp Commonwealth power over marriage will end up being tested in the High Court.”

Advocates with Australian Marriage Equality and local gay activists, however, welcomed the moves to bring the issue back for debate.

“In the last 12 months new information has come forward that directly addresses and clarifies concerns made in the legislative debate last year,” Tasmanians United for Marriage Equality convener, Andrew Badcock, said.

“We respectfully urge the legislative councillors to support the motion and examine recent developments and information continually being made available.”

It is believed if a marriage equality bill is debated and passed in Tasmania’s Upper House, it is likely to be successfully passed by the Lower House and turned into law by the end of the year.

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3 responses to “Tasmania to try for marriage equality again”

  1. Firstly, what is the pain of legal persecution involved in legalising gay marriage? Churches are exempted and we already have anti-discrimination laws. Gay marriage laws would change virtually nothing other than the fact that gay people would be able to receive marriage licences.

    As for why people want gay marriage – some people do want to get married, whether it was one or a million, that should be enough. The number is not the issue, the arguments for and against are.

    Finally, so what if the argument you raise is the real reason why many people want gay marriage. If it normalises homosexuality (which is normal), that is a good thing. Too many young people kill themselves/commit suicide because they are gay and persecuted.

    I won’t even talk about the other issues as they just aren’t relevant to whether gay marriage should be legalised. If you want to debate the reasons for or against polygamous marriage that is a completely different discussion and conflating the two only points to the fact you are trying to win the argument via confusion not by conviction or logic.

  2. they call it marriage equality, but it is only for homosexuals. I dont see them trying to get marriage equality for polygamists, polyamorists or homosexuals closely related to each other. The real aim of this movement is not to gain ‘marriage equality’ of which the clear majority of homosexual couples will not take up, the real aim is to force people who disagree with homosexuality to accept their lifestyle under pain of legal persecution.

    • BobS: What do polygamists have to do with this? Nothing. In every country where marriage equality has been legalised, none of this has happened. But in every country where polygamy is legal it is illegal to be gay. Polygamy is not even an argument its a panic.

      Look at New Zealand Maurice Williamson promised the people the sun would still rise the next day, they would not get skin diseases etc.
      And he was right. Same here. The only bad thing that could happen to you is in 30 years time (when younger people get taught in history classes marriage equality) is you will probably get stuck when you get asked (as someone old enough to remember) what on earth all the fuss was ever about.