The Parliament of Australia has overwhelmingly rejected attempts to legalise gay marriage in two decisive votes.

MPs voted against redefining marriage by 98 votes to 42. And a similar measure was defeated in the Australian senate by 41 votes to 26.

Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Gillard, was personally opposed to redefining marriage but she allowed her Labor party members to vote according to their conscience.

Decisive

The leader of the Australian Christian Lobby, Jim Wallace, said the Parliament has now expressed a decisive view on the matter.

“Everyone has had enough of this debate,” Mr Wallace said.

“It has been one of the most vitriolic campaigns I have ever seen and it has demonised so many good people out of the public square, such as Victoria’s chief psychologist Kuravilla George, who lost his job as a member of Victoria’s Equal Opportunity Commission because he supported marriage.”

Fuss

Supporters of gay marriage were disappointed. “I think at some future time our parliament will catch up with community opinion, just as it has on other issues,” senior government minister Anthony Albanese said after the vote.

“When marriage equality occurs, people will wonder what the fuss was about,” he said.