The Australian Government "says it will begin introducing legislation next month to remove same-sex discrimination from 100 Commonwealth laws." However, while gay reforms will recognize same-sex de facto relationships, laws governing gay marriage will remain unchanged.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/04/30/2230972.htm?section=australiahttp://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=305235"The government believes that marriage is between a man and a woman so it won't amend the marriage act."
It's a good start, but if you're going to eliminate discrimination altogether, excluding gay marriage from the agenda is *not* the best way to start, especially as the message still ends up being that 'gays' and 'straights' *aren't* equal, contrary to anything and everything the PM says. Equality only comes with *total* equality within law and politics, not fence-sitting half-steps. Our national anthem says we're "young and free", not old opinionated fossils.
However, it *is* good that de facto relationships between same-sex couples are at last going to be recognized. If only they were going one step further...
As appeared on the ABC, "It's good, but not good enough."
