Australian lawmakers on Wednesday overwhelmingly rejected a Labor MP's bill that would have legalised same-sex marriage.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott as well as former prime minister Kevin Rudd voted to defeat the private bill, proposed by Labor backbencher Stephen Jones.
According to media reports, Gillard allowed Labor members to make a rare "conscience vote" – meaning lawmakers can vote by their personal beliefs – while opposition leader Tony Abbott did not give Liberal members that option.
In related news, a conservative Australian senator was forced to resign from his parliamentary role today after he linked same-sex marriage to bestiality and polygamy during a debate.
Cory Bernardi, a Liberal Party member and Senator for South Australia, said in parliament on Tuesday: “If we are prepared to redefine marriage so that it suits the latest criterion that two people who love each other should be able to get married irrespective of their gender and/or if they are in a sexual relationship, then what is the next step?
“The next step, quite frankly, is having three people or four people that love each other being able to enter into a permanent union endorsed by society—or any other type of relationship. For those who say that I am being alarmist in this, there is the polyamory community who were very disappointed when the Greens had to distance themselves from their support for numerous people getting together and saying they want to enter into a permanent union. They were disappointed because they were misled that this was about marriage equality and opening up marriage to all people who love each other.
“There are even some creepy people out there—and I say 'creepy' deliberately—who are unfortunately afforded a great deal more respect than I believe they deserve. These creepy people say it is okay to have consensual sexual relations between humans and animals. Will that be a future step? In the future will we say, 'These two creatures love each other and maybe they should be able to be joined in a union.'”
His comments sparked outrage in the ruling Labor Party and elements within the Liberal Party, including high-profile former leader Malcolm Turnbull who described them as “hysterical, alarmist, offensive’’.
The House of Representatives is also considering another bill to legalise same sex marriage, sponsored by Greens MP Adam Bandt and independent Andrew Wilkie. It is not expected to pass.
Australian Marriage Equality national convener, Alex Greenwich, said in a statement that although “the federal parliament has effectively brushed the wishes of a majority of Australians aside, the states and territories will take the lead, ”he is confident Australians will “see same-sex marriages performed somewhere in Australia by the end of the year."
Polls show that a majority of Australians support gay marriage with 62% saying they support marriage equality in a Sydney Morning Herald/Nielson poll in November 2011 and 70% saying that they do in a News Ltd poll in mid-August 2011.