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Australia plan for vote on gay marriage hits stumbling block
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Ivan Hinton (right) watches his partner Chris Teoh sign their wedding register after taking their vows during a ceremony at Old Parliament House in Canberra, Australia on Dec. 7, 2013. (AP/Rob Griffith)
T
he government's plan to hold a popular vote on whether Australia should allow same-sex marriage has suffered a setback when a political party announced it will not support the proposed plebiscite.
The Nick Xenophon Team supports marriage equality, but the party says its senators will not support legislation to authorize the plebiscite. The party says it would effectively become an opinion poll without legal weight.
Another party that favors gay marriage, the Greens, announced last week that it would also oppose the plebiscite. That leaves the opposition center-left Labor Party as the government's only hope of getting the Senate to back a popular vote on same-sex marriage.
Labor leader Bill Shorten supports marriage equality but has recently stepped up his attacks on the plebiscite plan.
