Two proposals to legalize same-sex marriage in the Australian federal parliament last week were strongly defeated. On Sept. 19 the House of Representatives voted on a proposal by backbencher Stephen Jones, of the Australian Labor Party, the party currently in power at the federal level, to legalize same-sex “marriage.” The Labor Party allowed a free vote on the proposal, while the coalition of opposition parties, led by Tony Abbott, held to their promise of voting against any attempt to introduce same-sex “marriage.” The vote was 42 in favour of legalization and 98 against. Both Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Opposition...