On Nov. 15, Australia announced that the majority of voters voted “yes” for a change in the law to allow same-sex marriage.
For decades, different communities have fought for what they believe in, having to fight to be heard due to inequality, including the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning) community. Recently, the community has been pushing for equal right marriage in countries that currently do not have an installment in their favor.
Australia recognizes the travails that the community has faced in the past, and decide to vote.
BBC News reports that about 12 million people voted on the survey for the possibility to change the law, showing that 79.5 percent of people eligible to vote in Australia took part.
BBC News says the survey asked one question, “Should the marriage law be changed to allow same-sex couples to marry?”
According to The Guardian, the country sent out the question as a national post survey that ended with 61.6 percent of voters in favor of the change in the law to allow same-sex marriage. Australia’s chief of statistics announced that 7,817,247 people voted in support of the new policy and 4,873,987 voted against it.
The online news publication also mentioned that the new bill is currently being taken to parliament so Malcom Turnbull, Australia’s Prime Minister, can take the steps needed to make it into an official law. The Australian government is trying to make it so that the new law will be in place by this coming Christmas.
“I’m really happy for the people down under,” congratulates Emily Miller, sophomore professional writing major.
After the announcement on Wednesday, Nov. 15, many of Australia’s people went out into the streets to celebrate with one another. Heart-shaped confetti and rainbow flags flooded the streets in many cities of the nation which, was shown on a photo gallery on Elle, an online magazine. Turnbull commented, “The people of Australia have spoken, and I intended to make their wish the law of the land by Christmas. This is an overwhelming call for marriage equality.”
Elissa Noblitt, a sophomore professional writing major, agrees, “It’s absolutely fantastic. I’m so happy to hear the news. It gives me a lot of hope for the world in this troubling time.”
However, not all of the world agree that same-sex marriage is okay. USA Today states that about 71 countries in the world currently have laws against same-sex relationships, seeing it as a crime. Some of these nations even go to the extent to have the death penalty as the punishment for this “crime.”
USA Today also adds that some of the countries that have the death penalty in place are Iran, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and several others.
On the other hand, the world is moving to become more accepting. Australia is the 25th country to legalize gay marriage, along with other countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Spain, Sweden, the United States and several others.
Noblitt adds, “I think this [Australia’s law change] is an example for the rest of the world to follow.”
Maybe these countries that have implemented laws for marriage equality will influence others to accept people for who they are. Australia made a positive step for the majority of their voters, and this is a huge win for the LGBTQ community.
