Same sex marriage in Darwin, Northern Territory... When??? How???
A long overdue, symbol of equality in Australia; same sex marriages look like they will soon be legal, in our great country.
As a human this excites me... as a married women, who believes in equality... this excites me..... but as a marriage celebrant.... THIS REALLY EXCITES ME!!!!!
I have already had many same sex couples contact me, wanting to tentatively book dates 'for when the legislation is passed' which is why i decided on this blog post... the things same sex couples need to know about the when's and the how's....
1.
The government and in particular Malcolm Turnbull (PM Australia) has confirmed in the media that the house of representatives will not rise for the year until the bill, to make gay marriage legal is all passed.
2.
The Marriage Act of 1961 remains in place, without change, until the time in which parliament make amendments to change it... which means as a celebrant i must continue to work as i have done in the past... at this point.
3.
As a celebrant... even when the bill, to legalise same sex marriage, goes through parliament , we will need to wait for direction from the 'Marriage Celebrant Section' of the Attorney Generals office.
We have paper work that needs to be completed both prior to the ceremony (the NOIM and statutory deceleration) and during the ceremony (three marriage certificates) and at present they all refer to the 'parties to the marriage' being the:
- Bridegroom (male)
- Groom (female)
(they need to come up with some new terms to address 'the parties' (which im sure they have already brainstormed... but i don't know what they are)
and therefore us celebrants, will all need new paperwork, before we can marry same sex couples...
4.
Celebrants, such as myself are NOT able to accept 'Notice of Intended Marriage' forms from same sex couples before the bill is passed; this would be against the law.
5.
Once a Notice of Intended Marriage form (NOIM) is completed a couple need to wait for at least 30 days before you can get married.
Which means... for example: if a couple submits a NOIM to me on the 20th December 2017, the earliest they could get married would be the 21st January 2018.
I can not wait until the day, that i can hear all couples that are 'in love', say 'I Do'. I hope it happens soon, but
doubt we will be seeing a same sex marriage in 2017... but early 2018... lets keep our fingers crossed.
