~ Inside Out Australia

Tassie Putting Gay Marriage On The Map

Local News, By Joal, 24th June, 2008

It was only ten years ago that a homosexual act in Tasmania could land you in prison for 25 years. Tasmania once looked like it was dragging its feet when it came to gay rights, but if the Tasmanian Greens party has its way, the southern state might lead the charge in state-based legislation to legalise gay-marriage.

“There is no such thing as ‘mostly equal’, and until legislators provide same-sex couples with access to all civil institutions we will continue to discriminate against large numbers of people who deserve much better,” said Greens Deputy Leader Nick McKim of tabling the proposed legislation.

Tasmania was the first state to pass the most liberal Australian gay rights laws to date when in 2003 its parliament provided a registration scheme for same-sex couples. Once labelled ‘bigotry island’ by world press and gay-rights groups, Tasmania now allows same-sex couples to adopt the biological off-spring of their partners and allows them the same property rights as that of defacto heterosexual couples.

State-based same-sex marriage laws gained intense media attention in 2006, when the then Attorney General intervened to have proposed laws overturned.

“It’s clear that Tasmania can potentially make laws for same-sex relationships and, of course, the big difference between Tasmania and the ACT is that if the state parliament passes these laws the only way they can be overturned by the federal government is by a High Court challenge,” said ACT Attorney-General Simon Corbell. “Whereas in the ACT, because we are a territory, it can just be overturned by the Governor General.”

The ACT’s second attempt to allow gay-marriage was also halted by Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd shortly after his government was elected.

The Greens’ Mr McKim responded to Tasmanian Premier David Bartlett’s claim that marriage was a constitutional responsibility of the Federal parliament, stating that the new laws are being proposed under legal advice from constitutional expert Professor George Williams of the University of New South Wales. The professor reportedly indicated that there was nothing stopping states from introducing a same-sex marriage system.

As the US state of California processes hundreds of same-sex marriages under new state-based law, Rodney Croome of the Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Rights Group indicated that legalising same-sex marriage was a necessity if marriage was to remain a part of Australian society.

“If marriage is to stay relevant, if marriage is to be strong and up-to-date, then we have to make sure that it embraces all of those people who have love and commitment, all of those partners that want to share their lives – including same-sex partners.”

The legislation will be tabled by the Tasmanian Greens when the House of Assembly resumes on July 1.