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Australia Has Spoken: Majority Votes YES to Same-Sex Marriage


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Australia has spoken loud and clear, and it's saying YES to marriage equality!!

What started in September 12th and proved to be a long, but worthy, eight week postal survey in Australia that officially closed on November 7th concluded on a beautiful note, as a majority of the Australian people proudly said "yes" in favor of same-sex marriage.

According to results released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistic, an estimated 61.6% of the people who voted via the postal survey voted in favor of same-sex marriage while 38.4% voted against. These percentages represent the more than 12.7 million people that voted in Australia, which compromise around 79.5% of the voting population in the country.

Because of the overwhelming response in favor of same-sex marriage, a parliamentary bill was introduced into the Australian Senate not long after the results from the eight week postal survey were revealed, with the Prime Minister of Australia, Malcolm Turnbull, saying to a crowd in Canberra, "They voted 'yes' for fairness, they votes 'yes' for commitment, they voted 'yes' for love. And now it is up to us here in the Parliament of Australia to get on with it."

The Australian Parliament is currently debating the proposed parliamentary bill and what amendments of change it should include, with some of its conservative members arguing to include some form of exemptions that will give Australian businesses the legal protection to have the right to refuse to offer services and goods to same-sex marriages should the business personally believe and be against marriage equality. But nevertheless the opposing noise against the progressive path of same-sex marriage, Prime Minister Turnbull expects to pass the legislation through parliament and have same-sex marriage legalized by Christmas.

Although it will continue to be a road toward getting parliamentary legislation until its expected passing around Christmas, it didn't stop for the strong embracing and pride all around Australia after learning of the majority votes in favor of same-sex marriage. Many LGBTQ+ community members, allies, and pro-LGBTQ+ organizations took to the streets to unite with the same love and love for equality for which they fought through the Yes campaign (Yes in favor of marriage equality), with pride signs and rainbow flags seen high throughout Australia after the results of the postal survey.

But individuals in Australia and pro-LGBTQ+ organizations weren't the only ones who vividly displayed their support for the progressive majority vote, as Sydney's own Opera House shined brightly the colors of the LGBTQ+ pride flag on late Wednesday in support of the news.

Photo uploaded to Twitter by the Sydney Opera House,
offering its bright visual support for marriage equality on November 15.

A progressive future where equality is becoming more and more achievable by diverse groups of people sure does look bright, right? 

Sincerely, a happy, proud, Dora Goto

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