Equal marriage in Australia: the legal queries answered

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/24/gay-marriage-australia-law

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<strong>1. What is the status of same sex marriage in the Australian Capital Territory now?</strong>

Same sex marriage laws passed the ACT Parliament on Tuesday after last-minute modifications based on legal advice to improve its chance of surviving a federal government challenge in the High Court.

<strong>2. Now that the ACT parliament have passed same-sex marriage laws, when will same-sex couples be able to get married there?</strong>

Couples could marry in the ACT before the end of the year. The federal government on Wednesday lodged a writ of summons with the High Court, just 24 hours after the bill was passed.

<strong>3. Is the ACT likely to succeed in the event that the Commonwealth government bring a legal challenge in the high court?</strong>

 The ACT law has reasonable prospects of survival as the new law is not inconsistent with the federal marriage act.

<strong>4. If a same-sex couple is married in the ACT under the new law, is their marriage recognised in other states or territories? </strong>

Same sex marriage in the ACT will not be recognised in other Australian states and territories.

<strong>5. What will happen if same-sex marriage laws are passed by other states or territories? Will same-sex couples who were married in the ACT be recognised by those states or territories?</strong>

Ultimately, for recognition either all the states and territories will need to legislate for mutual recognition, or a national law is passed to bring full marriage equality about nationally.

<strong> 6. What are impacts of the same-sex marriage bill for same-sex couples and their families?</strong>

Families with gay and lesbian parents generally have to battle for social and legal recognition, often facing discrimination from both institutional practices and the broader community. These experiences of homophobia and heterosexism result in an inability to access critical family support structures, like baby health clinics.

Same-sex marriage legally accepted would remove the stigma that these families are somehow different. Fears raised by same-sex families are the same problems associated with homophobia and heterosexism faced by their children in schools.

<strong>7. How far along are other states and territories in passing their own same-sex marriage laws?</strong>

The New South Wales bill will be debated next week in the NSW Upper House and the Tasmanian bill is due to be re-debated in less than two weeks.

Both the New South Wales parliament and the Tasmanian Law Reform Institute have advised that there are no legal barriers to stop Australian states from marrying same-sex couples while an Australian federal government ban on same-sex marriage remains in place.

One of Australia’s leading constitutional barristers has provided legal opinion which states the Tasmanian same -sex marriage bill is constitutionally valid because it has been carefully framed to avoid any conflict with the federal marriage act.

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