Australian Baptist leaders have said they would support action to challenge a same-sex marriage bill the Australian Capital Territory Government plans to pass before the end of the year as soon as it becomes law.
Rev Keith Jobberns, national ministries director of Australian Baptist Ministries, says national marriage laws are “in Australia’s best interests”.
“The ACT bill is a direct challenge to federal jurisdiction of marriage, and the federal government has a responsibility to act to protect the meaning of marriage as it is currently understood,” he says. “Australian Baptists support action by the Federal Parliament to overturn state or territory legislation that attempts to amend the definition of marriage to include same sex couples.”
The organisation, which describes marriage as a “union of one man and one woman” and adds that it “is not the appropriate legal institution for same-sex couples”, has written to Prime Minister Tony Abbott urging his government to pass a bill authorising the Federal Attorney-General to recommend to the Governor-General that any law passed by the ACT Government legalising same sex marriage be overturned.
