Gay protests as Australia affirms gay marriage ban

By James Grubel

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Gay activists staged mock weddings across Australia on Saturday as the governing Labour Party voted against changing its ban on gay marriage.

In the largest protest, about 2,000 people, many in bridal veils, marched on the Labour Party's national policy-making conference in Sydney, chanting "gay, straight, black or white, marriage is a civil right."

Similar rallies and mock weddings were held in the southern capital of Melbourne and the Queensland city of Brisbane.

"Of course, we are disappointed there has not been a movement forward on gay marriage," said activist Corey Irlam, adding he believed Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was swayed by church concerns, including from Australia's Catholic cardinal George Pell.

Inside the Labour conference, 400 delegates earlier rejected changes to the party's policy, despite declaring strong opposition to discrimination against gay and lesbian people.

"The prime minister has made it clear that a Labour government will not support any form of recognition of relationships that undermine marriage," Attorney-General Robert McClelland told delegates to the Labour Party conference.

Rudd, a church-going Christian, has long opposed formal recognition of gay marriage and promised before he won power in 2007 that he would ensure national marriage laws would continue to define marriage as between a man and woman.

Gay marriage remains illegal in Australia, but the states of Tasmania and Victoria, and the Australian Capital Territory, all allow a form of civil union, which gives gay couples similar rights to married couples.

Labour promised to push for a national framework to register gay unions, but stopped short of endorsing gay marriage. Rudd's government is also committed to ending all other discrimination on the grounds of sexuality.

(Editing by Sugita Katyal)