In a setback for marriage equality in Australia, the country’s High Court has overturned legislation allowing gay marriage in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT).
In October, the ACT parliament had passed a bill making the territory the first part of Australia to legalize same-sex weddings. The national government then challenged the bill stating it was inconsistent with federal laws.
According to the BBC, the court said the issue should be decided by parliament – which in September 2012 voted down gay marriage legislation.
In a statement the High Court said, “The Marriage Act does not now provide for the formation or recognition of marriage between same-sex couples. The Marriage Act provides that a marriage can be solemnized in Australia only between a man and a woman and that a union solemnized in a foreign country between a same-sex couple must not be recognized as a marriage in Australia. That Act is a comprehensive and exhaustive statement of the law of marriage.
“The Court held that the object of the ACT Act is to provide for marriage equality for same sex couples and not for some form of legally recognized relationship which is relevantly different from the relationship of marriage which federal law provides for
and recognizes. Accordingly, the ACT Act cannot operate concurrently with the federal Act.
“Because the ACT Act does not validly provide for the formation of same-sex marriages, its provisions about the rights of parties to such
marriages and the dissolution of such marriages cannot have separate operation and are also of no effect.”
The High Court decision means couples who married in a five-day window before Thursday’s ruling have now had their marriages declared invalid.
Australian Marriage Equality National Director Rodney Croome said in a statement: “This is devastating for those couples who married this week and for their families.”
The Court held that the whole of the ACT Act is of no
effect.
