The Australian state of Tasmania's lower house of Parliament, the House of Assembly, voted Sept. 1 to recognize official same-sex unions and marriages that take place elsewhere in the nation or world.
The measure now moves to the upper house, the Legislative Council.
Australia does not allow same-sex marriage but three states and the Australian Capital Territory have same-sex partner registration schemes. Those partnerships also are recognized by the federal government for purposes of all spousal entitlements associated with marriage.
The Tasmanian bill will recognize overseas same-sex marriages only as state civil partnerships, not marriages, because Australian federal law explicitly bans recognition of foreign same-sex marriages.
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