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Marriage Bill designed to "end discrimination"

Thu 26 Jul 2012 In: New Zealand Daily News View at Wayback

Labour MP Louisa Wall's Bill has been pulled 12.40PM: Louisa Wall's bill, which has just been pulled from the ballot, is designed to "end discrimination in the Marriage Act 1955 so that same-sex couples have the same rights as other New Zealanders to formalise their relationship". The MP said the Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Bill will ensure that all New Zealanders have the right to marry regardless of their sex, sexual orientation or gender identity. "At the moment, the only option for same sex couples to formalise their relationship is to have a civil union, or to travel overseas to one of the growing number of jurisdictions that recognise same-sex marriage. Some would prefer to have a New Zealand marriage ceremony and they deserve that right," Wall said. "This Bill is an important step forward for New Zealand. Marriage is a fundamental human right and it is only fair that all New Zealanders have equal opportunity to recognise their relationship within the social and legal institution of marriage if they so choose. "This will be a conscience issue in Parliament. I'm urging all MPs to support the Bill if it is drawn from the ballot,” Wall told us last month. You can discuss this gay New Zealand community news story in the GayNZ.com Forum here    

Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff

First published: Thursday, 26th July 2012 - 12:36pm

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