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Civil Unions introduced in New Zealand

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  • 26-04-2005 3:32pm
    #1
    Annasopra
    Registered Users Posts: 41,072 ✭✭✭✭


    http://www.theage.com.au/news/World/Gay-civil-unions-become-legal/2005/04/26/1114462016745.html?oneclick=true

    It was so much easier to blame it on Them. It was bleakly depressing to think that They were Us. If it was Them, then nothing was anyone's fault. If it was us, what did that make Me? After all, I'm one of Us. I must be. I've certainly never thought of myself as one of Them. No one ever thinks of themselves as one of Them. We're always one of Us. It's Them that do the bad things.

    Terry Pratchet



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    #2
    Stark
    Registered Users Posts: 20,995 ✭✭✭✭Stark


    Stupid thing makes you register to view the page.

    Thank god for bugmenot.
    Gay civil unions become legal

    By Wellington, NZ
    April 26, 2005 - 11:00AM

    Gay couples can have their relationships formalised in civil union ceremonies with the same legal status as marriages under a new law that took effect today in New Zealand.

    Although more than 600 celebrants have been registered by the Department of Internal Affairs to conduct ceremonies, gays are not rushing to exchange vows with their partners, according to news reports.

    In fact, the first couple is likely to be a heterosexual pair also given the right to have their relationship recognised under the new law while stopping short of a formal marriage ceremony, according to gay politician Tim Barnett, who steered the legislation through Parliament last year.

    Barnett told the New Zealand Herald he was surprised homosexuals who had been demanding for years the right to formalise their relationships were not rushing to apply for civil union licences.

    "There aren't many in the first week or two," he said. "I am surprised, but people know it's not going to disappear next week. It's now the law, and people don't have to rush into it."

    Couples must be at least 18, and it takes about three days to process civil union licences, so the first ceremony is not likely until Friday.

    The new law was passed on a conscience vote by MPs freed from following dictates of their parties, but some opponents of the Labour Party-led coalition government have joined churches and traditionalists in opposing it.

    Don Brash, leader of the conservative National Party, said some people felt the government had been "preoccupied with social engineering".

    He said he voted for the law in its early stages because he did not personally object to homosexual couples formalising their relationships in some way.

    "I voted against it on the second reading on the grounds that this was quite a major change in civil society, and it might well be desirable to have that sort of major issue decided by referendum rather than parliamentary vote," he said.

    - DPA


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    #3
    fortysixand2
    Closed Accounts Posts: 487 ✭✭fortysixand2


    Hrm, didn't make ME register - anyways, huzzah! Steps forward! :D


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