"Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard Tuesday called for a conscience vote on same sex marriage in parliament, but effectively doomed the vote, saying she did not support changing the law to make same-sex marriage legal. Same sex marriage is banned under Australian law and opposed by both major political parties despite polls showing widespread public support for a change to allow couples the right to wed. According to the AFP Gillard said the issue provoked lively debate and she wanted her Labor Party colleagues to have the opportunity to express their views on it. But the nation's first woman prime minister stressed she still supported the current law. "As I have said many times, I support maintaining the Marriage Act in its current form, and the government will not move legislation to change it," she wrote in an opinion piece for the Sydney Morning Herald. "My position flows from my strong conviction that the institution of marriage has come to have a particular meaning and standing in our culture and nation and that should continue unchanged." But Gillard, who is unmarried but lives with her partner Tim Mathieson, said she recognized the deeply held convictions in society about marriage. "Given the personal nature of the issue and the deeply held beliefs, I believe that in future it is appropriate that a conscience vote flow to Labor parliamentarians," she wrote. "They should be free to vote in the parliament according to their own values and beliefs." A conscience vote on same sex marriage, allowing MPs to break with the party position, would likely fail to get a majority in parliament since Labor would be divided on the issue, and the opposition would almost certainly vote against it. The Australian Marriage Equality group, which has been lobbying for same-sex marriage, said Gillard's position was at odds with mainstream public opinion. The latest Nielsen poll on the subject published in the Herald Tuesday found that 62-percent of voters supported legalising same-sex marriage -- an increase of five percentage points compared with a year ago. The poll of 1,400 people taken over the weekend also found that the number of people opposed to gay marriage had fallen over the year -- from 37-percent to 31-percent. Same sex marriage is set to be a key issue at next month's Labor Party conference, along with the push towards selling uranium to India.
In England, a drunken thug who broke a gay man's jaw after an all-day binge has avoided being sent to jail. The Bristol Evening Post reports Jacob Smith, 21, hurled offensive and homophobic comments at his 25-year-old victim, before punching him in the face. Smith had been drinking at the Bristol Harbour Festival before confronting the man, who was with his partner and a friend, at about 11.30 pm on July 30 in Bedminster. At Bristol Crown Court Smith, of Dowling Road, Smith, was given a 12-month sentence suspended for two years, for committing grievous bodily harm, although Judge Michael Harington said the offence "richly deserved" imprisonment, adding, "You made some vile, revolting homophobic remarks which were quite unforgivable. The offence alone clearly crosses the custody threshold." Robert Reid, prosecuting, said the victim had been out with his partner on the night of July 30 when three people, including Smith, approached them shouting. After a confrontation, Smith delivered a blow to the left side of the victim's jaw. He then walked off laughing. His victim was shocked and upset and went to confront Smith but was restrained by his friends who also flagged down a nearby police car. Reid said, "Smith ran off laughing but was found outside the Tap and Barrel pub. He said; 'I'm going to go mental if you nick me' and was swinging his arms and legs about. He was conveyed to the police station where he gave a 'no comment' interview." He was also found with a small amount of cannabis on him. The court heard the victim had since been too frightened to leave the house, unable to work and prescribed anti depressants since the attack. Giles Nelson, defending, said his client had no recollection of the event at all and was at a loss to understand why the comments were made, and that, "He has accepted that his conduct was not good but the no comment interviews were not an attempt to be evasive but born out of complete amnesia. He pleaded guilty at the first available opportunity at Bristol Magistrates' Court and this is evidence of his remorse. He is very sorry for what happened to the victim." Nelson also added that Smith, who has a previous record of antisocial offences, had physical and psychological problems. He is not able to read or write very well, has little education, and is unable to complete manual work due to a congenital defect in his hand, telling the court, "He has a deep sense of frustration when it comes to employment and a low self-esteem which is why, on occasion he drinks to excess and takes substances. He is an extremely vulnerable young man." Judge Harington said it was in exceptional circumstances that Smith had escaped jail but instructed that any breaches of the suspended sentence would be directed back to his court, adding, "I've taken into account the victim impact statement and this sort of case usually attracts a custodial sentence. I have also taken into account the difficulties you have experienced over the years. I don't believe it is in the public interest, although richly deserved, to send you to prison today."
The Church of Scotland is braced for mass resignations over moves to allow the ordination of gay ministers, with up to 150 conservative and evangelical ministers threatening to quit, The Guardian reports. The rebellion began after the Church of Scotland became the first major Presbyterian Church in the world to allow openly gay and lesbian ministers to take up parishes at its general assembly in May, despite evidence that 20-percent of its elders and office-bearers could leave in protest. The assembly also opened the way for the full ordination of gay ministers in the 450-year-old church within two years. But senior sources estimate as many as 150 serving ministers are considering resignation, in the largest schism in the church since 474 ministers quit in 1843 to form the Free Church of Scotland. However, a spokesman for the Church of Scotland denied that so many ministers were threatening to leave and urged critics of gay ordination to wait until a theological commission reported in 2013. At least six ministers have left since the assembly in May, with one minister and his entire congregation at Gilcomston South in Aberdeen poised to leave as a group, in the first large-scale protest. Mike Strudwick, session clerk at Gilcomston South, said he expected the minister, the Rev Dominic Smart, and his congregation to resign en masse very soon, but were still discussing the details of how and when. He predicted other churches opposed to gay ordination could follow, and perhaps form a new breakaway church. He said he could "well believe" there were 150 ministers considering resignation. "Maybe five or six years down the line there will be a grouping of like-minded evangelical Presbyterian churches," he said. "It is more than conceivable that there will be a number of churches in the next months or years who will leave the Church of Scotland." The split is the most significant fallout since the ordination of Scott Rennie, an openly gay minister in a long-term relationship, to Queen's Cross church in Aberdeen in 2009. His appointment provoked a major dispute within the church, mirrored in the Church of England and other churches overseas, about the role and status of gay clergy and same sex marriages.
The Church of Scotland's ruling body voted in May to endorse Rennie's appointment by allowing any gay minister who had declared their sexuality before 2009 to take up new posts and parishes in the church. While effectively authorising gay clergy in the church, the assembly voted to postpone a formal decision on allowing gay people to train as ministers and be fully ordained in future until its special theological commission reported in 2013. It also prevented serving gay ministers who declared their sexuality after May 2009 from taking up new posts until at least 2013. Other figures in the church confirmed that other ministers are planning to resign, although some believe the revolt will not be large.
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