Same-sex marriage has been legal in New Zealand since 19 August A bill for legalisation was passed by the House of Representatives on 17 April by 77 votes to 44 and received royal assent on 19 April.
New Zealand was the first country in Oceania , the fourth in the Southern Hemisphere , and the fifteenth in the world to allow same-sex couples to marry. The case Quilter v Attorney-General had its origin in early when three female couples in long-term relationships, including Jenny Rowan and Juliet Joslin, [ 8 ] were denied marriage licences by the Registrar-General because marriage under common law was between "one man and one woman".
The applicants argued that the Marriage Act did not prohibit same-sex marriage and that under the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act and the Human Rights Act discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation was prohibited. Both parties agreed that at the time the Marriage Act was written in the s, marriage according to common law was between "one man and one woman", which explained why the Act did not specifically outlaw same-sex marriage.
The applicants argued, however, that under the Human Rights Act , which prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation, and sections 6 "Interpretation consistent with Bill of Rights to be preferred" and 19 "Freedom from discrimination" of the Bill of Rights, New Zealand prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and, therefore, the applicants should be allowed to marry.
The government in response cited section 5 "Justified limitations" of the Bill of Rights, which allows rights and freedoms in the Bill of Rights to "be subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society".
