Overseas gay weddings will remain blocked to Aussies

[WillParkinson]

Overseas gay weddings will remain blocked to Aussies

The Labor Government is stopping Australian same-sex couples from marrying overseas as well as at home.

Last week the Gillard Government informed marriage equality advocates that it has decided not to remove the ban, in place since at least 2005, on issuing Australians in same-sex relationships with the documents they need to marry overseas, called Certificates of Non-Impediment to Marriage or CNIs.

Last year’s Senate inquiry into marriage equality recommended lifting the CNI ban, even though it did not support allowing same-sex marriages in Australia.

Local marriage equality activists say they are deeply disappointed by the Labor Party’s failure to abide by the Senate inquiry recommendation, and would support a legal challenge to the ban.

“As if it’s not bad enough that the Government’s ban on same-sex marriages forces hundreds of Australians to marry overseas every year, often at great expense and without their families and friends present, the Government still wants to reach around the world in an effort to stop these Australians marrying,” says Australian Marriage Equality National Convener Alex Greenwich.

http://www.samesame.com.au/news/local/5714/Overseas-gay-weddings-will-remain-blocked-to-Aussies.htm