An Australian lawmaker is challenging Prime Minister Tony Abbott to allow Members of Parliament a free vote on same-sex marriage and said he would introduce legislation to amend the federal marriage act as soon as that happened.
Liberal Democratic Senator David Leyonhjelm said he hopes the “closet libertarians” in Parliament will support him in bringing marriage equality to Australia, calling the ban on same-sex marriage a “bizarre misappropriation of power.”
“It is not the job of governments to define relationships. For those of you who have a problem with homosexuality for some reason or another, we are not asking for your approval. I ask merely for your tolerance. If your private life is nobody else’s business, I ask you to understand that the private life of others is none of your business, and it is simply not your role to impose your views on others.
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A new Crosby Textor poll, commissioned by Australian Marriage Equality, finds that 72 percent of Australians favor legalizing same-sex marriage, up from 65 percent last August.
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According to the poll, support for same-sex marriage is now higher in Australia than it was in any other country, including New Zealand and Great Britain, when those country’s parliaments passed marriage equality laws.
