Archbishop Coleridge said children were best off with heterosexual parents and attacked the Government for creating ''bad law'' based on the desires of a minority.

But ACT Attorney-General Simon Corbell described the archbishop's comments as extraordinary, saying they perpetuated discrimination against homosexuals.

The ACT Government's new civil union laws come into effect in the next fortnight, allowing gay couples to have ''marriage-like'' ceremonies. It is the territory's third attempt at legally binding gay ceremonies and is almost certain to be vetoed for a third time by the Federal Government.

Archbishop Coleridge said the marriage ceremony should be reserved for unions between a man and a woman, which he described as ‘‘the best environment’’ for raising children.

‘‘Other relationships, however important and enriching they may be, do not make the same contribution to society and, therefore, do not warrant the same kind of formal recognition,’’ he said.

Mr Corbell said the Government did not support the archbishop.

‘‘This is a position that shows no compassion or justice towards those people and we reject it,’’ he said.

‘‘It is extraordinary for a church leader to seek to undermine the will of a democratically elected Parliament.’’

Archbishop Coleridge said it was wrong to deny justice to gay people.

‘‘But justice concerns rights and duties; and in this case we are not talking of the right of some to which there corresponds a duty for all. We are talking of a desire – something which some may want but to which they are not necessarily entitled,’’ he said.

‘‘For a government to confuse desires and rights is bound to lead to bad law; the same is true when a government focuses upon the individual at the expense of the community as a whole.’’

He urged Mr Rudd to support heterosexual marriage and overturn the ACT’s laws.

Mr Corbell said the ball was entirely in the Federal Government’s court.

‘‘This is not an issue that’s going to go away, it’s the clear will of the Assembly and therefore it’s the clear will of the people of the ACT,’’ he said.

Other Christian lobby groups also urged the Federal Government yesterday to overturn Canberra’s gay civil union laws.