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posted by martyb on Saturday December 09 2017, @04:04PM   Printer-friendly

Same-sex marriage officially signed into law in Australia

Same-sex marriage has been officially signed into law in Australia, a day after MPs overwhelmingly approved a historic bill. Australia's Governor-General Peter Cosgrove signed off on the law on Friday - a formality required to enact the legislation. The vote on Thursday set off rarely matched celebrations in parliament, including cheers, hugs and a song. Supporters celebrated across Australia, many donning rainbow colours.

"So it is all done. It is part of the law of the land," Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said after a brief ceremony on Friday.
He said the law would take effect immediately after midnight.

The first marriage ceremonies will happen from 9 January, given couples must give a month's notice of their intention to wed.

MP Tim Wilson proposed to his gay partner from the floor of Parliament during the debate.

Meanwhile: Austria to allow same-sex marriage with couples able to legally marry from 2019 at latest

Austria's top court has ruled that same-sex couples can marry from 2019 at the latest, bringing the often conservative Alpine country into line with more than a dozen other European nations. Gay marriage is now recognised in more than 20 countries, of which 16 are in Europe. "The Constitutional Court nullified with a decision on December 4, 2017 the legal regulation that until now prevented such couples from marrying," a statement released on Tuesday said. It said however that the current rules would remain in place until December 31, 2018 unless Austria's parliament changes the law before then.

Previously: Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Same-Sex Marriage
Taiwanese Court Invalidates Ban on Same-Sex Marriage
Australians Approve of Same-Sex Marriage in Non-Binding Vote


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  • (Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 09 2017, @04:34PM (20 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 09 2017, @04:34PM (#607711)

    Now society will collapse.

    http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/news/a27341/gay-marriage-predictions-021114/ [esquire.com]

    THE PREDICTOR: Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas)
    THE PREDICTION: Same-sex marriage will lead to socialist rule and supreme loyalty to the government.

    THE PREDICTOR: Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.)
    THE PREDICTION: Without prescribed social boundaries, some Americans will attempt to marry animals and possibly plants.

    THE PREDICTOR: Brian Brown, President of the National Organization for Marriage
    THE PREDICTION: Same-sex marriage will make the economy even worse.

    THE PREDICTOR: Former Rep. Todd Akin (R- Mo.)
    THE PREDICTION: Civilization will collapse.

    Thanks Australia.

    At least we can be glad that these wise sages are still in power and running the show.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 09 2017, @04:56PM (13 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 09 2017, @04:56PM (#607714)

    THE PREDICTOR: Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.)
    THE PREDICTION: Without prescribed social boundaries, some Americans will attempt to marry animals and possibly plants.

    Ugh, didn't know that about Rand Paul. That's not very libertarian. :(

    Ah well. Guess that's why he's R team. Yahweh's going to need to rain down another orbital bombardment to stop gay marriage from spreading. Assuming, of course, he's not rotting in an Anunnaki prison for crimes against sentient life.

    • (Score: 2) by AthanasiusKircher on Saturday December 09 2017, @05:59PM (12 children)

      by AthanasiusKircher (5291) on Saturday December 09 2017, @05:59PM (#607723) Journal

      I haven't tried to find the quote that GP based the Rand Paul thing on, but it's not surprising based on some things Paul said in the past.

      I'm not a Paul supporter, nor do I think a lot of his views are libertarian. But in recent years, he has come around to supporting the libertarian perspective on marriage for the most part, which seems to be that the government should get out of the marriage business entirely, not imposing regulations or shifting qualifications. I believe he has said something like, "I don't want my gun registered in Washington, and I don't want my marriage registered there either."

      • (Score: 4, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 09 2017, @07:07PM (10 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 09 2017, @07:07PM (#607745)

        What they don't want to realize is that marriage is an institution of property transfer and management, visitation rights, etc. It is discriminatory to deny gays those same rights that hetrosexual couples have. But the perverted religious wackos only have sex on their minds.

        • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 09 2017, @07:14PM (9 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 09 2017, @07:14PM (#607749)

          All of those things should be available to people who are not married, via ordinary contracts. You shouldn't get extra rights just because you participate in a silly ritual. And I support same-sex marriage.

          • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 09 2017, @07:43PM (6 children)

            by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 09 2017, @07:43PM (#607763)

            I think we should do away with marriage as a legal construct. Heterosexual people are just as capable of entering into a thousand-page contract with each other as homosexual people are. This will also make the tax code simpler. Let the religious crazies have their ceremonies in temples built of human hands.

            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 09 2017, @07:49PM (2 children)

              by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 09 2017, @07:49PM (#607767)

              Why human hands? Is it against G_d's plan to build a church using robots?

              Popeye's > Church's

              • (Score: 2) by edIII on Saturday December 09 2017, @08:47PM

                by edIII (791) on Saturday December 09 2017, @08:47PM (#607782)

                Popeye's > Church's

                BURN IN HELL!!!!! Church's > Popeye's

                Kidding a little, but you're math is way off

                (although Popeye's does have really good sides)

                --
                Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
              • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 10 2017, @12:47AM

                by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 10 2017, @12:47AM (#607852)

                I see I wasn't clear. I think robots are ok per Acts 7:48.

                However, the Most High does not live in houses made by human hands....

            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 09 2017, @08:55PM (2 children)

              by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 09 2017, @08:55PM (#607786)

              Well, really, a marriage isn't really official until a child from the couple is produced. That is the seal that confirms the deed.

              • (Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday December 10 2017, @12:04AM (1 child)

                by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Sunday December 10 2017, @12:04AM (#607841) Journal

                Well, really, a marriage isn't really official until a child from the couple is produced.

                You might want to think about that. Are you thus advocating that those who marry are sanctioned to have children? Particularly, the ones marrying animals and plants? For that would make for interesting legal precedence when genetics gets to the point where those sorts of progeny are possible.

                • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 10 2017, @12:10AM

                  by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 10 2017, @12:10AM (#607842)

                  monster musume

          • (Score: 2) by AthanasiusKircher on Saturday December 09 2017, @11:22PM (1 child)

            by AthanasiusKircher (5291) on Saturday December 09 2017, @11:22PM (#607832) Journal

            Yes, precisely. Marriage is a bundled contract of legal rights, many (perhaps most) of which aside from the stuff having to do with children/sex are the kinds of things people might want to share with a non-romantic companion or even a close sibling or whatever.

            My great-grandfather died in his 40s. My great-grandmother lived to over 100. She never remarried but spent several decades living with another older woman. They weren't lesbians, nor did they have any inclination toward romance... They just were two older women who found a close friendship after their husbands died. They shared property and companionship. If two people like that want to receive legal benefits for long-term couples (their period together was much longer than the average marriage), why shouldn't they?

            It's really the next stage of thinking once you divorce (no pun intended) marriage from procreation (which effectively happened distinctly with gay marriage) -- why shouldn't two long-term companions be able to get these rights? Courts in certain circumstances still will question the legitimate "intent" of partners in marriage who seem only to be in it for the legal benefits, rather than romance. How is that less intrusive than laws regulating sexual behavior in the bedroom or whatever? Is "love" or romantic attraction any more the purview of courts and the law than what or whom you're doing in your bedroom?

            Of course, this logic then leads down the complex legal road of "what's special about two people" then... And that's an even more difficult discussion for all sorts of reasons.

            • (Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 10 2017, @01:36PM

              by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 10 2017, @01:36PM (#607986)

              you're so in denial.

              grammy was harvesting the oyster ditch and eating box lunch FOR 60 YEARS DUDE.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 10 2017, @01:39PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 10 2017, @01:39PM (#607988)

        "If we have no laws on this people take it to one extension further. Does it have to be humans?" (2013)

        It's right there in TFA... jeez.

        Here are the other quotes:

        "Socialism requires that government becomes your god. That's why they have to destroy the concept of God. They have to destroy all loyalties except loyalty to the government. That's what's behind homosexual marriage. It's really more about the destruction of the traditional family than about exalting homosexuality, because you need to destroy, also, loyalty to the family." (2013)

        "On top of the incredible social damage caused by redefining marriage, gay marriage will place a significant economic burden on struggling states." (2013)

        "Anybody who knows something about the history of the human race knows that there is no civilization which has condoned homosexual marriage widely and openly that has long survived." (2006)

  • (Score: 2) by Gaaark on Saturday December 09 2017, @06:36PM (5 children)

    by Gaaark (41) on Saturday December 09 2017, @06:36PM (#607733) Journal

    THE PREDICTOR: Gaaark (somewhere, somehow)
    THE PREDICTION: gay people will marry

    And gay people will divorce, so FUCK YOU to gay people, too!, HAHAHAHA! We don't need no straights havin' all da fun!

    ;)

    --
    --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
    • (Score: 1, Disagree) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday December 09 2017, @07:09PM (4 children)

      by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Saturday December 09 2017, @07:09PM (#607746) Homepage

      Married gays and lesbos are by far the cattiest and most argumentative and disagreeable couples I've ever met, and I feel triply sorry for the kids some of them have adopted.

      If being kicked in the genitalia or swimming in a pool full of bullet ants was a compulsory rite of passage for straights but denied to gays, you bet your ass those gays would be fighting for those "rights" because they want to be "normal, too."

      I don't even know why a gay would want to get married at all -- I've always envied the gays in that it's a hell of a lot easier for them to get laid. There's none of this "taking them out to dinner" shit, or pretending what they have to say is interesting, or all of those other annoying hoops to jump through which are inherent in straight dating.

      • (Score: 2) by Gaaark on Saturday December 09 2017, @08:18PM (2 children)

        by Gaaark (41) on Saturday December 09 2017, @08:18PM (#607774) Journal

        Man, that's fucked but oh so true: getting laid would be easier. "You had me at 'Hi!' Let's fuck!"

        If my wife went for that line, .....man.....

        :)

        --
        --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
        • (Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 10 2017, @06:39AM (1 child)

          by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 10 2017, @06:39AM (#607916)

          She did

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 10 2017, @01:41PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 10 2017, @01:41PM (#607989)

            Worked for me too +1

      • (Score: 0, Troll) by Goddess Savitri Devi on Sunday December 10 2017, @03:13AM

        by Goddess Savitri Devi (6815) on Sunday December 10 2017, @03:13AM (#607870) Homepage Journal

        I don't even know why a gay would want to get married at all -- I've always envied the gays in that it's a hell of a lot easier for them to get laid. There's none of this "taking them out to dinner" shit, or pretending what they have to say is interesting, or all of those other annoying hoops to jump through which are inherent in straight dating.

        You speak the truth, oddly-named one.

        But you miss the important point, which is that the inferior (which includes these unnatural abominations) must be removed from the Earth, to purify it for the Aryan race and our thousand year reich!

        Heil Fuhrer! Give us the Aryan paradise you've promised!

        --
        Shiva shall rain death upon non-Aryan scum