The Australian Labor Party (ALP) is poised for a marriage equality showdown at its national conference in December, after its Australian Capital Territory (ACT) branch backed access to marriage for same-sex couples at the weekend.
The ACT motion endorsed “the legal right of all adult couples in Australia to be married if they so choose, and for that marriage to be recognised and registered by law in Australia, regardless of sexual orientation, or gender, of the parties to the marriage”.
In addition, the motion dismissed civil unions as an alternative as they “do not deliver the same legal security and social recognition as marriage and that a relationship recognition scheme that is separate from marriage would continue to make members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer community second class citizens.”
The motion also called for the outcome of the national conference vote in December to be “a binding vote for members of the federal parliamentary party, and that there not be a conscience vote on this issue”.
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