Labor’s rather confusing attitude to the ACT same-sex civil unions Bill became a little clearer in an interview with federal Attorney General Robert McClelland published in The Australian on February 7. McClelland is reported to have said that the “ceremonial aspects of the ACT’s civil unions model were unacceptable”.
He went on to suggest that the Federal Government would be prepared to endorse a watered-down form of so-called “civil union” that appeared to be little more than an existing state and territory based registration scheme akin to that in Tasmania.
Such registration schemes have removed a range of forms of discrimination. However, they are used to register not just same-sex unions but also a range of other, non-sexual interdependent relationships, which is why the religious right has often found them easier to accept than full civil unions for same-sex couples. (read more)
March 24, 2008 at 4:51 pm
favorited this one, dude