Just after 10am Wednesday in Australia, Bureau of Statistics’ David Kalisch has announced that 61.6 per cent voted yes in a national postal survey on same-sex marriage. That’s 7,817,247 people saying yes love is love, while 4,873,987 people, 38.4 per cent of voters, said no it isn’t the same. Alex Greenwich of the Equality Campaign says this win is because people talked to their neighbors, family, and friends about why a yes vote was so important.
“You’ve done it. It’s YES,” he said.
“Now, because of you, ours will be the last generation in which LGBTI relationships are not equal under the law. For the young person growing up in a small town, for the couple who have been together 40 years, and the person who’s been longing to propose: you belong here, your love is celebrated and honoured here, and never again will you be made to feel otherwise by our country’s laws.
So pick up the phone right now. Call your son or daughter. Text your best friend. Hug your grandma. High-five the coffee guy. Pump the music in your office. Put a shiny new badge on your profile pic. Give your child a great big cuddle. Because today in Australia, fairness and equality triumphed, and we can all be proud.”
The vote doesn’t legislate anything, but is intended to guide decisions on which bill to bring to Parliament for a vote. Some politicians want the legalization bill to permit discrimination against same-sex marriage by bakers and others who provide goods and services to weddings.
As conservative Coalition MPs and senators rallied around the same-sex marriage bill released on Monday by Liberal senator James Paterson, Turnbull slapped them down ahead of the release of marriage law survey results at 10am on Wednesday….
The Paterson bill has been criticised by lawyers, marriage equality advocates and the attorney general, George Brandis, for allowing discrimination against same-sex weddings by commercial service providers.
On Monday Turnbull described the Smith bill as a good starting point, and at a press conference in Manila on Tuesday he went further, warning: “I don’t believe Australians would welcome, and certainly the government would not countenance, making legal discrimination that is illegal, that is unlawful, today.”
Asked about a bill that would allow businesses to say “no gay weddings serviced here” – in reference to Paterson’s proposal – Turnbull said: “I think it would have virtually no prospect of getting through the parliament.”
Smith based his bill on the recommendations of a Senate committee inquiry. It is co-signed by four Liberal supporters of marriage equality, enjoys support from Labor and qualified support from the Greens, who intend to seek amendments.