PM targets gays in marriage law
Gay couples will be banned from marrying or adopting children from overseas but will be allowed to inherit their partner's superannuation under proposed changes to marriage laws announced today.
Less than an hour after Prime Minister John Howard announced the changes to the Marriage Act, the government rushed legislation enabling the changes into parliament.
Mr Howard said the Marriage Act would be changed to include a definition of marriage as the `voluntarily entered-into union of a man and a woman to exclusion of all others'.
The laws currently do not define marriage.
``
We've decided to insert this into the Marriage Act to make it very plain that that is our view of a marriage and to also make it very plain that the definition of a marriage is something that should rest in the hands ultimately of the parliament of the nation,'' Mr Howard told reporters.
''(It should) not over time be subject to redefinition or change by courts, it is something that ought to be expressed through the elected representatives of the country.''
The change would mean that couples could not marry overseas in a country where gay marriage was legal and then hope to have the union recognised on their return to Australia.
Mr Howard also said the Family Law Act would be changed to prevent, where possible, gay couples adopting children from overseas.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/05/27/1085461876842.htmlHoward's Bastardisation of the Marriage Act
and
Removal of Rights from a section of the Population.
i.e Banning Gay Couples From Marrying. Removing their Right that already existed.
This is a human rights issue.