Following a Federal Court decision late last week to throw out a legal challenge to the current ban on same-sex marriage, equal marriage advocates say it is even now more pressing that politicians act to remove marriage discrimination.

Marriage equality advocates have called for LGBTI couples across Australia to send in submissions to the NSW parliament’s inquiry into proposed state same-sex marriage legislation as the current draft bill will preclude such couples from interstate marrying in the state.

Any future changes to the Marriage Act must ensure it is gender-neutral so the law can reflect the fact that our biological sex doesn’t determine our personality, our relationship roles nor who we are attracted to, writes Ben Cooper.

In what has been called a Valentine’s Day gift to the state’s same-sex couples, a NSW committee has released blueprint legislation for state-based same-sex marriage.

It’s well and truly now a race to the altar to see which state or territory will become the first to have equal marriage laws after a cross parliamentary group of MPs in NSW gave notice yesterday of their intentions to introduce a marriage equality bill by early next year.

It could soon be a race to the altar for the first state or territory in Australia to introduce marriage equality, with Tasmania’s Government over the weekend signalling it would bring in same-sex marriage laws during its current term of office, leading to calls by the ACT Government that it too may follow suit.

Polling has identified South Australia as the key state for achieving national marriage equality with strong support seen from both the state’s main political parties.

Former Coalition leader Malcolm Turnbull has today intimated in a national radio interview that he would be inclined to support marriage equality should the Coalition be given a conscience vote on the issue when a private member’s bill is tabled in Federal Parliament next year.

SYDNEY: In a little over an hour, Sydney’s Lord Mayor, Clover Moore, will introduce a motion during a mayoral minute at tonight’s Council meeting that calls upon the Australian Parliament to amend the Marriage Act to introduce marriage equality.