Australian same-sex couple set to become the first to tie the knot under new NZ gay marriage law
Monday 19 August 2013 @ 11.54 a.m. | Legal Research
From 9am tomorrow, same-sex marriage will be legal in New Zealand after its House of Representatives successfully passed a bill to approve a change to the Marriage Amendment Act in April. The bill passed with a majority of 77-44, making it the thirteenth country to allow same-sex couples the right to marry and the first country in the Asia-Pacific to do so. An Australian couple will be one of the first to wed under the new Act.
The new definition of marriage will be defined as "the union of two people, regardless of their sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity."
Newcastle couple Paul McCarthy and Trent Kandler will be the first couple to be married under the legislation however their union will not be recognised in Australia after Greens Senator Sarah Hanson Young's bill to recognise overseas unions in the country was voted down in June.
"I hope our own government can step up and realise that same-sex couples are the same as everyone else, we just want to spend the rest of our lives together," McCarthy said.
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