Same-Sex Marriage to Take Place This Weekend Pending High Court Decision
Wednesday 4 December 2013 @ 10.50 a.m. | Legal Research
The Australian High Court has reserved its decision on the Commonwealth challenge to the ACT’s same-sex marriage laws. The court has announced that its decision will be handed down next Thursday, thus allowing same-sex marriages to take place in the meantime in the ACT.
The issue before the court is the constitutional validity of the ACT same-sex marriage law. The Commonwealth government has challenged the act’s validity claiming that it is inconsistent with the Federal Marriage Act. The Commonwealth Solicitor-General had told the High Court that according to Federal laws, marriage is a union between a man and a woman and that the Federal Parliament has the constitutional right to define marriage in Australia.
Justice Gleeson of the High Court found that marriage is a common genus that cannot be divided into multiple species among the states.
However, the ACT government argues that same-sex marriages can coexist alongside the traditional form of marriage as provided for by the Federal Government. Australian Marriage Equality's lawyer Anna Brown says the ACT Government should have the right to legislate for same-sex marriages:
"The ACT sought to argue that the ACT marriage laws should be held to be valid because it governed only same-sex relationships and that wasn't in conflict with the Federal Marriage Act."
Whether the constitutional challenge will succeed or fail, the High Court’s delay in handing down its decision means that the law will come into effect in the ACT, albeit momentarily pending the decision, will mean that same-sex marriages can take place this weekend in the ACT.
ACT Attorney General Simon Corbell said:
"I'm sure couples will welcome the fact that the law will come into operation and that they can marry under the law, albeit, with the prospect that there is some risk to those ceremonies because of the uncertainty surrounding the High Court case until we receive the court's judgement."
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