Same Sex Marriage In Australia Essay

The problem The issue draws attention to same-sex couples that wish to marry, however, are unable due to the Marriage Amendment Act 2004 (Cth) under Section 5.1 stating “marriage” means ‘the union between a man and a woman to the exclusion of all others, voluntarily entered into for life’. Marriage equality has been an ongoing debate within Australian society for years, with the federal government blocking past bills for marriage between same-sex couples. When the Marriage Act 1961 (Cth) came into force there was no clear definition of ‘marriage’ except section 46(1) of the Act which stated the words a marriage celebrant was to say during a ceremony. It wasn’t until the Marriage Amendment Act 2004 (Cth) by the Howard government that a definition of ‘marriage’ was given and the addition of Section 88EA which states, ‘a union solemnised in a foreign country between (a) a man and another man, or (b) a woman and another woman, must not be recognised as a marriage in Australia’. As a result, the Commonwealth was not willing to allow any degree of same-sex marriage to be recognised within Australia, including same-sex couples that had married overseas.
View point In recent years, the Commonwealth Parliament and some state parliaments have changed …show more content…
The ideology that marriage is only for heterosexual couples thus threatens the sanctity of marriage and traditional values (Edwards, 2007). In an open pastoral letter called “Don’t Mess with Marriage”, the Catholic Church has opposed same-sex marriage claiming it goes against traditional values, for instance, children are conceived through a natural result of through marital life (Ikin, 2015). A South Australian bishop stated children of same-sex couples will see themselves as another stolen generation because they have been denied a mother or father (Ikin,