By John Mack Freeman
For all of the progress being made in same-sex marriage throughout the world, it still seems to come in slow and stilted leaps forward. However, the growing support for same-sex marriage in Australia and the attempts by that country’s left-wing legislators to bring marriage to a vote suffered a major setback this week. 2/3 of the ruling majority refused to allow its members a conscience vote on the issue. A definition from Advocate.com:
While Members of Parliament are free to vote differently from their party, they run the risk of being accused of disloyalty, and Ministers would likely be forced to resign from their positions. Members of the opposition have announced that they will introduce a bill to legalize same-sex marriage next week. Time will tell if enough members of the Liberal-National Coalition are brave enough to break party lines and vote for what’s right.
Thus, even though the bill will go forward, it is unlikely to pass due to the process shenanigans surrounding it. Because of this, same-sex couples in Australia will have to continue to wait to become legally wed in the eyes of the state.