MP seeks tightening of Marriage Act

United Future's Gordon Copeland has written to every MP seeking support for his bill to change the law so that marriage can only occur between one man and one woman.

Mr Copeland says the Marriage Act "surprisingly" does not make that clear because, until recently, it had always been accepted that there was no other sort of marriage.

"When the Marriage Act 1995 was enacted, in accordance with the tradition of several millennia, it was quite unnecessary to include a definition of marriage," the MP said today.

His Marriage (Gender Clarification) Amendment Bill would also ensure that a "marriage" between two people of the same gender in another country would not be recognised in New Zealand.

Same-sex marriage is legal in Canada, the state of Massachusetts in the United States and some European countries.

Mr Copeland said his bill was not discriminatory under the Bill of Rights Act.

"This is simply to allow faith communities and others to run marriage preparation and marriage enrichment courses without ambiguity about whether they are also obliged to run civil union preparation or civil union enrichment courses," he said.

Mr Copeland opposed the Civil Union Act, but said his bill was not designed to relegate civil unions or de facto couples to a "second class citizen" status.

"I believe the amendment to the Marriage Act which I am now suggesting will rebalance the situation in the interests of social cohesian and unity," he said.

The bill is due to come up for its first reading on December 7, which it must pass if it is to go any further in the legislative process.

Mr Copeland said he did not know whether it had the numbers, because so far only United Future and ACT, which has only two MPs, were sure to support it.

"I regard this bill as straightforward and non-controversial, and therefore I am hopeful that it will receive the unanimous support of Parliament," he said in his letter to MPs.

- NZPA