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SAME-SEX marriages have been banned in Australia after an emotional Senate debate.
Marriage has now been enshrined as a union between a man and a woman to the exclusion of all others.
Gay rights groups were outraged, branding it the most "backward step for gay and lesbian rights by any Parliament in 30 years". They were considering whether to launch a High Court challenge to the laws on human rights grounds.
The Government and Labor used their numbers in the Senate to ban gay marriages after a three-hour debate.
In an emotional Senate speech Democrats Senator Natashi Stott Despoja attacked the Government and Labor over the ban.
The senator questioned how the major parties could imply her heterosexual marriage was more valuable than homosexual matrimony. South Australian Labor Senator Jenny Wong, who was in a long-term gay relationship, said she looked forward to when the issue was consigned to the graveyard of history.
"Nobody has a monopoly on commitment and love, nobody has the right to judge the worth of another person's relationships," Senator Wong said.
Australian Democrats sexuality spokesman Brian Greig said the bill had been driven by fundamentalist Christian MPs and community leaders.
Spokesman for same-sex couples lobby group Let's Get Equal, Matthew Loader, vowed to fight the laws.
Australian Family Association vice president Bill Muehlenberg applauded the ban: "The laws reaffirm what every culture already knows and that is marriage is between a man and woman."
A Senate inquiry into marriage laws, which has received more than 12,000 submissions, is due to report in October.