Australian PM Challenged on Marriage

Members of the Australian Labor Party from the state of Victoria passed a resolution in support of marriage equality over the weekend, posing a direct challenge to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, the center-left party's federal leader.

The resolution, approved overwhelmingly by the Victorian ALP, asks the federal government to allow same-sex couples to marry and urges the government not to overturn a law recently passed in the Australian Capital Territory that allows same-sex couples there to hold legally binding civil union ceremonies, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.

''Victorian Labor believes that people are entitled to respect, equality, dignity and the opportunity to participate in society free from hatred or harassment and receive the protection of the law regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity,'' says the resolution, as reported by the Herald.

Last year Rudd intervened to make sure that civil union ceremonies held in the ACT would have no legal status.