Same-sex unions are treated as de facto unions under the current Australian federal law, although each Australian State and Territory is entitled to create its own laws with respect to same-sex relationship registers and same-sex partnership schemes.  

 

At present, same-sex couples are prevented from “marrying” by the definition of marriage contained within the federal Marriage Act (1961), as amended in 2004.

 

A same-sex union, also referred to by a variety of other names including a civil union, is a legally recognized arrangement similar to marriage.  These unions have been established in a number of countries since the late 1990s.

 

Beginning with Denmark in 1989, civil unions under one name or another have been established by law in several, mostly developed, countries in order to provide legal recognition of relationships formed by unmarried same-sex couples and to afford them rights, benefits, tax breaks, and responsibilities similar or identical to those of legally married couples.

 

We would love to help you develop and then conduct a Same-Sex Union ceremony that is both respectful and enjoyable to all concerned. 

 

While we can model it along the same lines as a marriage ceremony, these ceremonies have no legal effect, and are not legally binding on those who participate.