Australia’s Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, will be under intense pressure at the Labor Party national conference in December to endorse same-sex marriage, the Sydney Morning Herald reporting that a vote at the weekend means New South Wales is the only state branch of the party not to support marriage equality. A motion was passed at the ALP state conference in Tasmania yesterday, calling for an amendment to the Marriage Act that would permit marriage regardless of sexuality or gender identity. A similar motion was deferred at the NSW state conference last month. The move has been endorsed by Labor in Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, the Northern Territory, Victoria and the ACT. The Tasmanian motion was similar to one passed in 2009. ''It was put back on the agenda to obviously reaffirm the Tasmanian branch's position and to do that ahead of the [national] conference in December,'' the party's state secretary, John Dowling, said. It was seconded by Senator Carol Brown, who said the vote was ''a major boost'' to changing the party's national platform.
Civil partnerships has cemented inequality in Ireland, it has been claimed, the Belfast Telegraph reporting that singer Brian Kennedy was among the hundreds who will take to the streets of Dublin next Sunday to march for full marriage equality. Max Krzyzanowski, of the action group LGBT Noise, said the denial of civil marriage equality in Ireland is a human rights issue. "The Civil Partnership Act 2011 has only served to cement inequality in Irish society by explicitly excluding LGBT people from the institution of marriage," he said. "By granting legislation that only offers a portion of the rights and responsibilities of marriage, LGBT couples are forced to participate in their own discrimination out of urgent necessity to have their legal and financial arrangements recognised. This is nothing short of state-endorsed discrimination in having a separate set of laws for one section of society." Noise called on the Government to listen to the repeated calls highlighting the inequalities of civil partnership legislation and demonstrate its commitment to equality for all by lifting the ban on same-sex marriage. Supporters will stage their third annual march from City Hall to the Department of Justice, where a mass rally will be held. Kennedy, a gay rights supporter, said that "I believe in human rights and civil marriage is a human right that the LGBT community should no longer be denied. This injustice has gone on too long."
A senior figure in the Scottish National Party has criticized one of his party colleagues over his stance on same-sex marriages. Nationalist MSP John Mason has tabled a motion at the Scottish parliament stating that no person or organisation should be forced to be involved or to approve of same-sex marriage. The motion was backed by three other Nationalist MSPs, but now, reports the BBC, Alyn Smith MEP, writing in the Scotland on Sunday newspaper, has condemned their actions. He wrote that he would not tolerate discrimination and said that he demands equality. He insisted that no church or individual would be forced to approve of or perform same sex weddings. Smith said his colleague's motion "saddened" him and wrote “What is in the small, mean, angry heads of bigots is a matter for them. I have never asked for their approval, but I demand equality." Mason, who represents Glasgow Shettleston, lodged a motion at the parliament earlier this week ahead of the Scottish government's forthcoming public consultation concerning equal marriage, stating "That the Parliament notes... that while some in society approve of same-sex sexual relationships, others do not agree with them; desires that Scotland should be a pluralistic society where all minorities can live together in peace and mutual tolerance; believes that free speech is a fundamental right and that even when there is disagreement with another person's views, that person has the right to express these views, and considers that no person or organisation should be forced to be involved in or to approve of same-sex marriages." The motion is supported by SNP MSPs Bill Walker, Richard Lyle and Dave Thompson. Green MSP Patrick Harvie and the Liberal Democrat's Willie Rennie have condemned Mason's stance and lodged amendments to his parliamentary motion. In its election mandate the SNP said it would hold a consultation on the issue of same-sex marriage. The Scottish Labour party has urged the First Minister to "name a date" for a debate on the issue. Responding to Smith's comments, Mason stood by his views on same-sex marriages and said he lodged his motion to stop the debate on the issue "just flowing in the one direction," adding "I'm perfectly relaxed about gay marriage but the fear amongst some of the churches is that if they're allowed to carry out same-sex marriage some will and some won't. The next step will be that someone goes to a church that doesn't want to and it will get taken to court." He accepted the strong feelings sparked by his comments and said: "That's just part of politics. It's the game we're in. I knew something like this was going to happen. I hope it can calm down and we can get a reasonable debate."
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