Same-sex marriage in New Zealand

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Same-sex marriage
Performed nationwide in
Netherlands (2001) Belgium (2003) Spain (2005) Canada (2005) South Africa (2006)
Performed statewide in
Massachusetts, USA (2004)
Foreign same-sex marriage recognized in
Israel (2006)
Debate in other countries and regions
Argentina Aruba Australia Austria China Estonia France Ireland Italy Latvia Lithuania New Zealand Portugal Romania Sweden Taiwan United Kingdom United States: CA, CT, MD, NY, NJ, OR, VT, WA
See also
Civil union Registered partnership Domestic partnership Timeline of same-sex marriage Listings by country
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New Zealand does not allow same-sex marriage, but allows civil unions that provide virtually all the rights and responsibilities of marriage. On immigration to New Zealand, couples that have same-sex marriages from countries that allow them can have their marriages recognised as civil unions. Adoptions by same-sex couples are also not legal.

During the 2005 election, Prime Minister Helen Clark admitted that she thought it was discriminatory to exclude same-sex couples from the Marriage Act 1955, but said she would not push to change it.[1]

1 Marriage amendment
2 Transsexuals
3 Public Opinion
4 See also

[edit] Marriage amendment

In 2005, United Future MP Gordon Copeland sponsored the Marriage (Gender Clarification) Amendment Bill that would have amended the Marriage Act to define marriage as only between a man and a woman, and amend anti-discrimination protections in the Bill of Rights so that the bill could stand. It also would have prohibited same-sex marriages from foreign countries from being recognized as marriages in New Zealand. The bill was voted down by a large margin (47 in favour, 73 against) on December 7, 2005. MPs who opposed the bill said they considered it unnecessary and MP Katherine Rich called the bill a "cheap political stunt" meant to appeal to "banjo-playing redneck homophobe(s)." [2]

[edit] Transsexuals

If a post-operative transsexual marries someone of the opposite sex to the one that they had been reassigned to, that is considered a legal marriage under the Marriage Act 1955. This was decided by the M v H [1995] case in Otahuhu (Auckland)'s Family Court, and later upheld in New Zealand's Court of Appeal. This means that while pre-operative transpeople can contract civil unions, they cannot get married to a person of the gender opposite their gender identity, unlike their post-operative counterparts.