A report in this morning's Herald claims that the Government is going to bring forward its plans for civil union legislation for same-sex and de facto couples. The Government is apparently anxious about legal challenges to the marriage laws following the recent Canadian Supreme Court decision which said Canadian marriage laws were discriminatory. Complaints have already been lodged here at the Human Rights Commission. Peter Dunne, leader of Government coalition partner United Future, said he was unaware of plans to introduce the legislation and would reserve his comment until then. The lack of confirmation from the Government has, however, not stopped the Catholic Church from voicing its concerns already. Communications director Lindsay Freer said that they would not approve of anything that allowed gays to marry as it would undermine the sanctity of marriage and threaten the “traditional” family. "The Church believes marriage is a lifelong commitment between a man and a woman," she said. "The Government has no mandate to change the definition of marriage." However, the Church would support legislation that protected the legal rights of gay couples, but Freer said it was a fine line between protecting rights and allowing marriage.
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Wednesday, 16th July 2003 - 12:00pm