A Canberra couple who vowed to divorce if Australia legalised same-sex marriage have been offered free legal services, as pressure mounts on them to go through with it.
Sydney lawyer Michael Tiyce says he will work pro-bono to help Sarah and Nick Jensen keep their promise to Australia.
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Mr Jensen wrote a controversial piece for Canberra City News back in 2015, saying he would throw away his own marriage to "the mother of our children, my perfect match" if gay people were ever allowed the same rights.
Mr Tiyce has years of experience advocating on behalf of queer clients.
"I thought offering assistance to Nick and Sarah would be an excellent way of reaching out across communities with my family law expertise, because quite simply they are going to need it," he said.
"My wife and I, as a matter of conscience, refuse to recognise the government's regulation of marriage if its definition includes the solemnisation of same-sex couples," Mr Jensen wrote.
"When we signed that official-looking marriage certificate 10 years ago at Tuggeranong Baptist Church, we understood that the state was endorsing marriage, as currently defined, as the fundamental social institution - with all that this implied.
"But if this is no longer the case, then we no longer wish to be associated with this new definition. Marriage is sacred and what is truly 'marriage' will only ever be what it has always been."
Mr Jensen told Daily Mail Australia he would wait to see what changes are made before going through with the divorce.
"We just need to see the legislation and if it all goes that way ... then we know what situation we're in and what we're going to do," he said.
However, even if they do divorce, Mr Jensen admitted in his 2015 piece that nothing would really change.
"After our divorce, we'll continue to live together, hopefully for another 50 years. And, God willing, we'll have more children," he wrote.
"We'll also continue to refer to each other as 'husband' and 'wife' and consider ourselves married by the church and before God."
Newshub.
