South Australian marriage equality advocates say they will campaign hard for a new state bill allowing same-sex couples to marry, after another knock down from federal parliament. The Senate has voted down a bill that would have allowed overseas same-sex marriages to be legally recognised in Australia. South Australian Labor Lower House member Susan Close has now introduced a bill that will allow same-sex couples to tie the knot under state law. Australian Marriage Equality South Australian convener Harley Schumann says the fresh denial from the federal parliament has left the way open for the states to take action instead. "We want to see South Australia lead the way on marriage equality so we will be lobbying and campaigning hard in support of this bill,” Schumann says. "We will be launching a letter-writing campaign and encouraging same-sex couples and their families to lobby their local MPs." Marriage equality legislation was narrowly defeated in the Tasmanian Parliament last year and is pending in NSW, Victoria, Western Australia and the ACT.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Friday, 21st June 2013 - 10:06am