Gay marriage 'inevitable', Gillard tells guests

PRIME Minister Julia Gillard has told three same-sex couples she believes laws allowing them to marry in Australia are inevitable. Ms Gillard and partner Tim Mathieson hosted the couples at The Lodge last night. She told them the growing number of countries legislating in favour of the issue is placing increasing pressure on politicians to support reform....

Sydney Morning Herald • Feb 21, 2012

Australia: Gay debate delayed to lift support

THE gay marriage debate in Parliament will be pushed back to later in the year to give advocates for change more time to garner enough support to have legislation for same sex marriage passed. Instead of the debate being held immediately - which would have seen the bill defeated - the gay marriage campaign has changed focus to increase pressure on Tony Abbott to change his mind and allow oppositi...

Sydney Morning Herald • Feb 6, 2012

Parents of gays make TV pitch to Abbott on same-sex marriage vote

PARENTS and grandparents of gay and lesbian children will make a direct appeal to Tony Abbott to allow them to marry in a television commercial which will air nationally from today. The advertisement, organised by the Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, is designed to increase the pressure on Mr Abbott to grant Coalition MPs a conscience vote on same-sex marriage....

Sydney Morning Herald • Jan 30, 2012

Call for patience in same sex marriage push

The Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, has ruled out giving Coalition MPs a conscience vote, saying to do so would break an election commitment. But the Liberal senator Simon Birmingham has signalled he will argue for a conscience vote when Mr Abbott seeks party room approval for his position. ...

Sydney Morning Herald • Jan 2, 2012

After all the horse-trading, Gillard team braces for judgment day

The constitution grants the Commonwealth a power to pass laws on ''marriage'', but it is up to the High Court to determine what this word means. It has not yet decided whether ''marriage'' in the constitution means the union of a man and woman, as it did when the constitution was drafted in the 1890s, or something broader that could now encompass gay marriage. ...

Sydney Morning Herald • Dec 19, 2011

Australia: Conscience vote on gay marriage wins favour

A NEW poll shows an overwhelming majority believes all MPs should be given a conscience vote on same-sex marriage, just as Tony Abbott all but ruled the option out for the Coalition. He also warned his MPs yesterday against crossing the floor to support gay marriage in defiance of party policy. The latest Herald/Nielsen poll shows while support for same-sex marriage has slipped over the past mon...

Sydney Morning Herald • Dec 13, 2011

Same sex civil unions passed in Qld

Same sex couples in Queensland now have the right to enter into legally recognised civil unions. The Civil Partnerships Bill was passed in state parliament at 11.10pm (AEST) on Wednesday, with 47 MPs voting yes and 40 no. The bill, introduced by deputy premier Andrew Fraser, allows same sex couples to register their union with the Queensland Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages....

Sydney Morning Herald • Nov 30, 2011

Australia: PM grants conscience vote, dooming gay marriage

JULIA Gillard will back a conscience vote for Labor MPs on gay marriage, as the Age/Nielsen poll shows a growing majority of Australians favour legalising marriage equality. But in a stand that will deeply disappoint those arguing for change, the Prime Minister also wants opposition to gay marriage to stay in the ALP platform, which will be debated at next month's party conference. Sixty-two per...

Sydney Morning Herald • Nov 14, 2011

Victorian Labor sends a message on gay marriage

The votes brings Victoria in to line with most of the country's states and territories in pressuring the federal government to change its platform. New South Wales is the only state not to have voted in support of gay marriage. ...

Sydney Morning Herald • Oct 9, 2011

World champ axeman backs gay marriage

World champion axeman David Foster may not be a likely poster boy for gay rights. However, these days the prominent North-West Tasmanian is just as happy to be championing same-sex marriage as he is woodchopping. The reason? His daughter Sally, her partner Lily and their daughter Wren, who soon turns one....

Sydney Morning Herald • Sep 9, 2011

Australia: Hundreds rally for same-sex marriage

Hundreds of same-sex marriage advocates, some dressed as Jesus Christ and the Pope, have gathered in Brisbane as part of a national day of protest. Gay and lesbian rights' protests were held across the country on Saturday ahead of the ALP National Conference in December. Queensland Greens Senator Larissa Waters was among the speakers at the rally in Brisbane's Queens Park. She encouraged them t...

Sydney Morning Herald • Aug 15, 2011

NSW Labor struggles on gay marriage

LABOR Party factions in NSW were in crisis talks last night over whether to support same-sex marriage. It is understood the party's powerful Right faction wants only to refer the matter to Labor's national conference in December. But all other party state conferences have voted at their gatherings to support same-sex marriage - as well as to refer the issue to the national conference....

Sydney Morning Herald • Jul 11, 2011

Here's an idea: what if the Government introduced voluntary gay marriage?

What is so Christian about an institution which lets in straight atheists and even Satanists, but excludes gay Christians?...

Sydney Morning Herald • Jun 20, 2009