Marriage Equality (Same Sex) Act 2013

Marriage Equality (Same Sex) Act 2013
ACT Legislative Assembly
An Act to provide for marriage equality by allowing for marriage between 2 adults of the same sex, and for other purposes
Citation	A2013-39
Territorial extent	Australian Capital Territory
Enacted by	Legislative Assembly
Date passed	22 October 2013
Date enacted	4 November 2013
Date commenced	7 November 2013 (Weddings held from 7 December 2013)
Status: Expired

Commonwealth v ACT (Same-sex marriage case)
Court	High Court of Australia
Decided	12 December 2013
Citation(s)	[2013] HCA 55, (2013) 250 CLR 441
Transcript(s)	[2013] HCAtrans 299 (3 December 2013)
Case opinions
The Marriage Equality (Same Sex) Act 2013 (ACT) was invalid as inconsistent with the Marriage Act 1961 (Cth)
Court membership
Judge(s) sitting	French CJ, Hayne, Crennan, Kiefel, Bell & Keane JJ

The Marriage Equality (Same Sex) Act 2013 was an act of parliament of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly that legalised same-sex marriage in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). It was first presented to the ACT Legislative Assembly on 19 September 2013 by the ACT Attorney-General, Simon Corbell. The act was passed in the Legislative Assembly on 22 October 2013. It came into operation on 7 November although wedding ceremonies under the provisions of the Act did not occur until 7 December 2013.

West Australian parliamentarian Stephen Dawson and his husband Dennis Liddelow were the first same-sex couple to marry under the new laws. Upon the law's commencement, the Abbott Government challenged the legal and constitutional validity of the Act, lodging an immediate challenge in the High Court of Australia. The case was heard on 3 December and a ruling was handed down on 12 December 2013. The High Court unanimously struck the act down in its entirety, on the basis that it was in conflict with the federal Marriage Act, which defined marriage in Australia as the union of a man and a woman. The court did however expressly confirm in its ruling that the Parliament of Australia had the constitutional authority to amend to definition of marriage in the Marriage Act, so as to allow same-sex couples to marry.

The bill was presented to the Assembly as the Marriage Equality Bill 2013 and was supported by all eight members of the Australian Labor Party in the ACT and by Australian Greens MLA Shane Rattenbury. It was, however, opposed by all eight members of the Liberal Opposition, who argued that same-sex marriage should be dealt with by the Federal Parliament only.

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