Australia’s PM wants marriage equality by Christmas after ‘overwhelming’ vote
AUSTRALIA - The Australian parliament must commit to deliver marriage equality by Christmas, the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, has said after an “unequivocal, overwhelming” vote of 61.6% in favour of same-sex marriage in an unprecedented national postal survey.
As nationwide celebrations heralded a result that will give enormous momentum to a final push to achieve the historic social reform, Turnbull moved to head off attempts from conservatives in his ruling Liberal National Coalition to frustrate or delay the legislative process.
Turnbull said the survey – which had a participation rate of 79.5% – meant Australians had “spoken in their millions and they have voted overwhelmingly yes for marriage equality”. “They voted yes for fairness, yes for commitment, yes for love. And now it is up to us here in the parliament of Australia to get on with it, to get on with the job the Australian people asked us to do and get this done,” he said. After a national vote that was resisted at every turn by marriage equality advocates who viewed it as an affront because it determined the right to equality before the law by a majoritarian vote, prominent LGBTI Australians celebrated that the Australian values of fairness and equality were reflected in the outcome. Large public gatherings in major cities, including Sydney and Melbourne, saw marriage proposals, tears and the popping of champagne corks as Australia’s chief statistician, David Kalisch, announced the result in the capital, Canberra. In Melbourne 5,000 people outside the State Library of Victoria cheered and danced to Kylie Minogue. In Sydney’s Prince Alfred Park, John Paul Young sang Love Is in the Air.
The swimming champion Ian Thorpe, the actor Magda Szubanski, the Qantas chief executive, Alan Joyce, and the Labor leader in the Senate, Penny Wong, were among those overcome with emotion and keen to share their joy with fellow Australians. Celebrities including Minogue, Ellen DeGeneres married to Australian-American Portia de Rossi the Apple boss, Tim Cook, the Canadian leader, Justin Trudeau, and former British prime minister David Cameron tweeted congratulations. (Theguardian.com/ Foto: theguardian.com)