^{Category: International Human Rights | Gender and Sexuality}

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The BBC reports on a situation that may sound eerily familiar to U.S. readers:

The Australian government has said it will oppose any new laws legalising gay civil unions.

Prime Minister John Howard said he did not intend to allow the institution of marriage "to be in any way undermined". The authorities in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), which includes the capital Canberra, introduced a bill on same-sex civil unions last week.

If the legislation is passed, it will be the first such law in Australia, but federal government can overturn it ...

In 2004, Howard's administration formalized Australian marriage laws to state that marriage is between a man and a woman, explicitly banning gay marriage but leaving open the possibility of gay civil unions. The administration's new stated opposition to the Canberra bill makes it clear that even civil unions are unacceptable to Howard, who hails from Australia's conservative Liberal Party.

(Don't let the name fool you; the Liberal Party is actually Australia's answer to the U.S. Republican Party. The leading liberal opposition party--comparable to the U.S. Democratic Party--is called the Australian Labor Party.)