The Federal Liberal party may soon be forced to consider allowing its members a conscience vote on the issue of Same-Sex Marriage with the introduction of a new bill from one of the senate’s rogue crossbench members set to bring the issue back to the national agenda.
Liberal Democratic senator David Leyonhjelm will tomorrow introduce what he calls the “Freedom to Marry Bill 2014” which could provide the impetus for the Liberal party room to decide whether or not to let their members have a conscience vote on the issue, which would fulfil a pre-election promise of Prime Minister Tony Abbott to leave the decision up to the party room.
Senator Leyonhjelm stated the purpose of the bill was threefold:
- Reducing the extent to which the Government “interferes in private life. It does this by allowing all Australians regardless of sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity to marry.“
- It also imposes no claims or burdens of conscience on those “who object to marriages other than between a man and a woman for both religious and non-religious reasons.”
- Finally, it ensures that while conscience is to the greatest extent protected “the state — which stands for all Australians and whose laws ought to be facially neutral — cannot make claims of conscience in this matter.“
The key areas of definition that Senator Leyonhjelm’s bill amends is the new phrase “two people” over the existing phrase “husband and wife,” ensuring that the Marriage Act 1961 extends to cover every Australian person, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identification.
The latest polls suggest that as many as 83% of Australians support the legalisation of same-sex and intersex marriage.
via The Australian.
Photo: Ethan Miller via Getty Images.
