Australian Senate approves same-sex marriage bill
By Connor O’Brien
Australia’s upper house Senate passed a bill on Wednesday, Nov. 29, that will take the country a step closer to legalizing same-sex marriage. According to Reuters, the Australian Senate overwhelmingly passed this bill 43 votes to 12 on Wednesday, which now leaves it up to Australia’s House of Representatives to debate on the bill. If the House of Representatives approves this legislation, it will officially become a law, according to BBC News.
Last Tuesday, Attorney-General George Brandis, Australia’s Senate leader, said the passing of this legislation would “demolish the last significant bastion of legal discrimination” over sexuality in Australia.
Brandis went on to say, “By passing this bill, we are saying to those vulnerable young people there is nothing wrong with you. You are not unusual. You are not abnormal. You are just you.”
The Senate’s vote reflected the people of Australia’s majority opinion on the issue, which supports the legalization of same-sex marriage as well.
A non-binding national poll, which was held just hours before the legislation, showed that 61.6 percent of Australian voters were in support of legalizing same-sex marriage, according to BBC News.
This poll was open for eight weeks and 12.7 million Australians, which is about 79.5 percent of the country’s eligible voters, took part in voting on the single poll question: “Should the marriage law be changed to allow same-sex couples to marry?”
After the poll results were released, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said, “[Australians] have spoken in their millions and they have voted overwhelmingly yes for marriage equality,” continuing with, “They voted yes for fairness, yes for commitment, yes for love.”
This legislation, which would make Australia the 26th country to legalize same-sex marriage, is something Turnbull has made a goal to pass by Christmas, according to Reuters.
This legislation by Liberal Senator Dean Smith contains exemptions allowing religious ministers and current civil marriage celebrants to opt out of officiating same-sex wedding ceremonies.
The House of Representatives could vote on the issues as early as Tuesday or Wednesday of this week, but that is not for certain. Ryan Goss, senior lecturer at Australian National University’s College of Law, said it is going to depend on how much debate there is and how many amendments end up being proposed for the bill to actually come to a vote, according to News.com.au.
“What we do know is that all of the signs are the government wants this done. Christmas is coming so it could be within days, but it depends on a lot of variables,” said Goss.
Australia’s House of Representatives will begin to debate on the legislation this week to decide on what is to come next with same-sex marriage in Australia.
Editor’s Note: Information from BBC News, Reuters and News.com.au was used in this report.
