Looking backwards | Thursday, June 15, 2006 |
Australia is a modern, progressive country. Why, just a couple of months back the TGA approved the use of RU486 for abortions.
Legislative changes are often accompanied with a bit of controversy and it's more complicated here with federal and state law. Those crazy freaks down in the ACT had the audacity to vote in legislation recognizing same-sex relationships in a similar way to the stuff in the UK recently.
Each state has it's own elected parliamentary officials, they publish a manifesto and then, at the end of the process, pass state laws.
But these ones PROMOTE GAY MARRIAGE. Oh, my. Let the heavens open.
Well, actually, they don't do anything of the sort. What it does do is ensure that same sex couples get the same work, pension and death rights as good, clean "normal" couples (won't somebody think of the children?)
So, enter the Commonwealth. That I think means federal government, and yes, they've asked the Governor General to overturn the law which he has agreed to. That's analagous to asking the queen.
Needless to say, there is a lot of fuss over the whole thing. The pro-gay groups are quite rightly asking why they're not entitled to the same rights are straight couples. The ACT legislature is asking (to paraphrase) "What the fuck?" This is a properly voted in amendment to the law, as allowed by the governing practices of this country.
So, we're looking forward, towards the middle of the 21st century, except that it seems, we're not. Sash used to shake his head at the direction his country was heading and although the weather is nice, I'm beginning to see why.
Legislative changes are often accompanied with a bit of controversy and it's more complicated here with federal and state law. Those crazy freaks down in the ACT had the audacity to vote in legislation recognizing same-sex relationships in a similar way to the stuff in the UK recently.
Each state has it's own elected parliamentary officials, they publish a manifesto and then, at the end of the process, pass state laws.
But these ones PROMOTE GAY MARRIAGE. Oh, my. Let the heavens open.
Well, actually, they don't do anything of the sort. What it does do is ensure that same sex couples get the same work, pension and death rights as good, clean "normal" couples (won't somebody think of the children?)
So, enter the Commonwealth. That I think means federal government, and yes, they've asked the Governor General to overturn the law which he has agreed to. That's analagous to asking the queen.
Needless to say, there is a lot of fuss over the whole thing. The pro-gay groups are quite rightly asking why they're not entitled to the same rights are straight couples. The ACT legislature is asking (to paraphrase) "What the fuck?" This is a properly voted in amendment to the law, as allowed by the governing practices of this country.
So, we're looking forward, towards the middle of the 21st century, except that it seems, we're not. Sash used to shake his head at the direction his country was heading and although the weather is nice, I'm beginning to see why.
