COVER STORY Shorten takes low road to defeat marriage plebiscite
In the first week of Federal Parliament, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten introduced his own bill for a federal parliamentary vote on same-sex marriage, to defeat the Government’s promised plebiscite, which would engage the entire adult population. The Shorten bill, if adopted by Parliament, would amend the Marriage Act, “to allow couples to marry, and to have their marriages recognised, regardless of sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or intersex status.” The Shorten bill therefore goes far beyond an attempt to assist homosexual and lesbian couples to marry: it is specifically aimed at legalising intersex and transgender marriages. No wonder the detail…