After a decade of conservative resistance, Australia’s parliament legalised same-sex marriage on Thursday. This was legalised after an overwhelming majority, with tears and apologies to gay Australians and the marriage proposal of an Australian lawmaker.

On November 15, in a non-binding postal vote, Australia said yes to same-sex marriage. The Australian Bureau of Statistics said that voluntary poll had a turnout of 79.5% (12.7 million), where 7,817,247 people voted in favour and 4,873,987 voted against same-sex couples to wed. The final approval came after his vote.

“This belongs to us all,” Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, a longtime supporter of same-sex marriage who had previously failed to get it legalized, said on Thursday. “This is Australia: fair, diverse, loving and filled with respect. For every one of us, this is a great day.”

What happened?

“I am Australian,” could be heard from the public gallery while some wiped their tears. Lawmakers stood in awe and were equally emotional.

The earlier legislation had extended equal benefits to same-sex couples like government benefits, employment and taxes. But, marriage was termed as a “union of man and woman” which has been now changed to “union between two people”. It automatically recognizes same-sex marriages from other countries.

Many gay rights activists applauded the move but said that it was long overdue. Since 2014, 22 times the plea to legalise gay marriage was rejected in the Parliament. People of Australia voluntarily coming forward to vote for something like this is a welcome move.

The Logical Indian take

Around the world, many countries have recognised gay marriage including, US, UK, Canada, Germany, South Africa, etc.

Australians coming forward voluntarily to vote for same-sex marriage speaks volumes of the country’s progressive worldview and democracy’s power to impel a change.

The Logical Indian welcomes the move and hopes India will at least take the first step and decriminalise the LGBTQ community.