(Sydney, Australia) Australian Prime Minister John Howard is preparing to bring in legislation to prevent courts from recognizing gay unions.
The newspaper The Australian reports that Howard's government will overhaul the marriage act to prevent same-sex couples from going abroad to have either marriages or civil unions performed and then go to court to have them recognized at home.
The paper also says that the cabinet has approved sections that would prevent the federal government from being forced to acknowledge civil unions approved by state governments.
Under the Howard reforms, marriage would be defined in legislation as between a man and a woman.
Howard, a social conservative, is said to be impressed by moves taken by US President George Bush to amend the American Constitution to ban gay marriage.
However, a push by conservative lobby groups to ban the marriages of the transgendered was rejected by the cabinet the paper says.
In its cabinet submission the Australian Family Association argued that only men with male chromosomes, gonads and genitals, and women with female chromosomes, gonads and genitals should be allowed to marry – a requirement that would effectively prohibit transsexual couples from marrying.
Australians go to the polls this year and the gay marriage issue is expected to be a key plank in Howard's Liberal Party platform.
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