FED: Govt refuses to bend on gay marriage

AAP General News (Australia)
08-01-2009
FED: Govt refuses to bend on gay marriage

Labor looks set to remove the explicit definition of marriage being between a man and
a woman from its national platform .. but the RUDD government says it won't legalise gay
marriage or nationally-recognised civil unions.

Gay rights advocates have lost a backroom battle at the ALP National Conference in
Sydney .. to advance the recognition of same-sex couples.

They're understood to have backed down on their demands .. fearing they might lose
ground on other anti-discrimination measures.

Nationally .. The Labor Party says it'll continue to move towards a nationally-consistent
framework for the registration of same-sex unions .. as occurs in Victoria .. Tasmania
and the ACT.





The language in the ALP national platform section on same-sex couples will be rewritten
to make it clear that while Labor still regards marriage as that defined in the Marriage
Act .. that is between a man and a woman .. the actual words man and woman were removed.

AAP RTV so/rt

KEYWORD: ALP GAY (SYDNEY)

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