<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <docID>336039</docID> <postdate>2025-01-01 10:19:28</postdate> <headline>How conservatives ‘got in first’ to block gay marriage</headline> <body><p><img class="size-full wp-image-336040" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20040810000011394155-original-resized.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="597" /></p> <caption>Marriage law changes in 2004 to exclude same-sex couples were lashed by LGBTQI groups at the time. (Mick Tsikas/AAP PHOTOS)</caption> <p><span class="kicker-line">By<strong> Kat Wong</strong> in Canberra</span></p> <p><strong>LGBTQI communities were dealt a huge blow when the federal government changed the definition of marriage and two decades later, former prime minister John Howard still stands by the decision.</strong></p> <p>The government changed the Marriage Act In April 2004,to explicitly exclude same-sex couples and define marriage as "the union of a man and a woman".</p> <p>The move was lashed by LGBTQI groups, but the former Liberal prime minister claims that definition was the view at the time.</p> <p>"Most people thought it unthinkable that marriage would be anything other than between a man and a woman," he told reporters at the National Archives of Australia.</p> <p>"The idea that we did that to prejudice the debate is nonsense."</p> <p>Cabinet files from 2004 released by National Archives of Australia on Wednesday show the Commonwealth had received a letter from the attorney-general with advice on amending the law, after he examined newly passed ACT legislation allowing same-sex couples to become adoptive parents.</p> <p>Around this period, gay marriage had become a key issue in the lead-up to the US presidential vote and Australia's federal election.</p> <p>As some American states considered legalising it, Republican president George W Bush said he supported amending the constitution to ban gay marriage permanently.</p> <p>The prime minister meanwhile stood staunchly against LGBTQI unions, claiming they would do nothing to support the "survival of the species".</p> <p>The Australian debate continued to gain traction when two Melbourne-based LGBTQI couples, who had legally married in Canada, made court applications to have their unions recognised at home.</p> <p>Australia's main law did not specifically define "marriage" and the aspects that recognised overseas unions were broad, which meant courts could rule in favour of the couples.</p> <p>"We had a choice: the parliament of Australia could define marriage, or it could be left to a judge," Mr Howard said in December.</p> <p>"The way to fix it was to get in first, to lay down the definition, and the definition we put in reflected the view of the government at the time."</p> <p>Crossbenchers including Greens and Australian Democrats pushed back, but the Labor opposition supported the bill and the amendment passed on August 13, 2004.</p> <p>Advocates like Rodney Croome said it would "set in concrete the second-class status of same-sex relationships for years to come".</p> <p>The issue would not regain serious traction until 2016 when the coalition government promised to hold a national vote on same-sex marriage if it won the election.</p> <p>Further political battles were fought over the issue before Australians voted to legalise same-sex marriage in 2017 through a postal survey.</p> <p>"I voted against it, but I lost, the other side won and that's how that works," Mr Howard said.</p> <p>"My name is not Trump."</p> </body>