Aussies' Actions Motivate PM to Push for Ban on Same-Sex Unions
by Fred Jackson, Bob Ditmer, and Bill Fancher
May 28, 2004
(AgapePress) - Australian Christians are rejoicing over the news that their prime minister has introduced legislation that will outlaw homosexual "marriage." The head of a pro-family group there is crediting pressure on the government from concerned Christians.
Australia could easily be one of the most immoral countries in the world: Prostitution is legal Down Under, and it is acceptable to sell pornography to children there. But this week, Prime Minister John Howard's government introduced legislation that will not only ban homosexual marriage, but will also change immigration rules to stop homosexual men and women from adopting foreign children.
Jack Sonneman is director of the Australian Federation for the Family. He says the prime minister initially told pro-family people he could not consider such legislation in an election year -- but that is when conservatives went to work and started applying pressure.
"What we did was we brought Jesus into the picture," Sonneman says, "and we stayed in the picture -- we kept writing, we kept phoning, we kept e-mailing, we kept contacting him, because that's what the opposition does. Well, we're going to outdo them."
Sonneman says American Christians should be encouraged by the news from Australia and continue the fight to save traditional marriage in the United States. A prominent place where the battle for traditional marriage is being waged is in Massachusetts, where towns are heeding a letter from State Attorney General Thomas Reilly to stop issuing marriage licenses to out-of-state couples.
The Massachusetts Battle Front
The attorney general reviewed the 1913 law denying out-of-state couples marriage licenses and found it binding. The concern was that homosexual couples from around the country would use the marriages as leverage against Defense of Marriage Acts in their home states.
Ray McNulty of the Massachusetts Family Institute applauds the state's top law enforcement agent. "It's certainly not his intent that Massachusetts become the wedding chapel state for the rest of the Continental United States," he told Family News in Focus.
Worcester, Somerville, and Springfield were issuing the licenses, but stopped when they got the letter from Reilly. The homosexual tourist town of Provincetown has also agreed to stop issuing licenses to out-of-state residents.
At the same time, an effort is under way in the Bay State to remove the four Superior Judicial Court justices who voted to legalize same-sex marriage, despite the state constitution's limit of their jurisdiction in that area. Brian Camenker heads up a group called Article 8, which is based on its namesake in the Massachusetts constitution.
Camenker quotes Article 8: "In order to prevent those who are vested with authority from becoming oppressors that the people have a right to cause their public officials to return to private life."
According to the family activist, that article was put into the Massachusetts constitution by John Adams in 1780 because Adams "specifically feared that the judiciary would be the most oppressive part of government if they weren't held in check."
Article 8 is not an impeachment article -- it simply says that judges can be removed from the bench by a simple majority vote of the state house and senate and with the approval of the governor. Article 8 has been used nine times by the state to remove judges.
If the effort is successful, the four justices would be removed and their ruling which legalized same-sex marriage would be rescinded. Camenker says the movement has the votes to accomplish that, but they are being blocked by the Democratic Senate leader who is using procedures to prevent the vote.
