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June 12th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda Queensland Premier Campbell Newman has appeased both sides of the civil unions debate by amending the controversial legislation but refusing to repeal it completely.
Mr Newman on Tuesday announced cabinet had decided to amend civil union laws so same-sex couples could no longer have state sanctioned ceremonies, but their legal rights would remain.
The former Labor government passed the Civil Partnerships Bill last year.
During the state election campaign, Mr Newman said a LNP government would look at repealing the laws if it didn’t leave couples in “legal limbo”.
On Tuesday he said the laws would be amended so couples could register their relationship but no longer have a “state sanctioned ceremony” that Christian groups had objected to.
“I wouldn’t actually say it’s a compromise, I’d say it’s sensible,” he told reporters.
Mr Newman said the changes demonstrated “a lot of good faith” to the Christian lobby while also ensuring the gay and lesbian community were losing “nothing whatsoever” in terms of their civil rights.
Only 21 of the 609 couples registered for a civil partnership so far in Queensland had a state-sanctioned ceremony.
Australian Christian Lobby Queensland director Wendy Francis said her group would stop lobbying for the laws to be repealed.
“I think what they’ve done is probably enough,” she told AAP.
Ms Francis said aspects of the legislation that “mimicked” marriage cheapened it the same way someone who bought a fake Gucci handbag overseas did to the designer brand.
“By saying that we can have a mimic of marriage and that it doesn’t really matter, what we’re doing is devaluing the institution of marriage,” she said.
Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays spokeswoman Shelley Argent said she was “pleasantly surprised” to hear the LNP would not repeal the laws.
“I think it’s a little disappointing that they have removed the ceremony, but still that’s okay, we can get along without that,” she told reporters in Brisbane on Tuesday.
Daniel Stiffel, who has a registered civil union with his partner Mark Chappell, said he had “feared the worst” after hearing Mr Newman would make an announcement about the laws.
“I was sitting at my desk shaking for fear that I was going to have a state-enforced divorce,” he told AAP.
“Given that immediate feeling of fear, this outcome is fantastic.”
Steve Rolph, also registered in a civil partnership, was relieved he kept his legal rights.
However, he was annoyed right-wing lobby groups didn’t think he and his partner of almost 12 years, Paul Andrews, should be wed.
“What right do they have to say that loving couples can’t have a ceremony in front of friends and family sanctioned by the state?” he told AAP.
“I can never understand why something like that could bother a group so much.
“… but at the end of the day civil partnerships are staying and I am infinitely relieved about that.”
Opposition Leader Annastacia Palaszczuk says Mr Newman should give his MPs a conscience vote on the amendments.
“Mr Newman refused to say before the election what he and his MPs would do with the Act,” she said.
“Now that we know, it is only fair that voters know where their local LNP member stands.”
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