As with every nation on the planet at the moment, the Australian government recently entered into the Gay marriage debate. A proposed ammendment to the marriage bill, had been presented to the federal senate, which would allow Homosexual marriage (or at least "civil unions") to be legalised.
Closing date for correspondance on the matter was 30th July 2004. I received notification of this, for the first time, on 29th July, from two seperate sources (one of which was creation science ministry, 'Answers in Genesis', who would normally stay out of this kind of debate). I have since become aware of a letter to the editor in Melbourne's 'Herald Sun' newspaper, dated 26th July. In spite of the minimal amount of warning, senate received over 12,000 submissions (most have been against same-sex marriage and adoption rights), which is an all-time Senate record.
On August 4th, 1,000 people from across Australia crammed into the Great Hall in Parliament House, for a National Marriage Forum, with both houses of parliment agreeing to alter legislation to clarify the "male-female" marriage model.
Article titled "Labor backs ban on gay marriage", published in Australia's "The Age" newspaper (which is generally very anti-Christian) on 5th August, summed the whole thing up well.
Here's an excerpt:
Quote:
"We understand how strongly many people feel about retaining and promoting the institution of marriage between men and women and as a bedrock institution for families," she said.
Prime Minister John Howard told the forum that he would reintroduce legislation within a fortnight, saying he wanted the issue dealt with before the election.
While gay marriage is not recognised in Australia, Mr Howard has expressed concern that the courts could adopt a more liberal interpretation. He said he wanted to enshrine in law the notion that marriage was a union between a man and a woman, to the exclusion of all others.
All I can say is, praise God for christian's getting off their backsides. :-)
(So this is what it feels like to be part of the "vocal minority".)
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Aaron Ireland
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