Australia Votes 'Yes' To Same-Sex Marriage

Australians sent a firm message to politicians with a ‘Yes’ vote in favour of marriage equality…
 
Celebrations broke out across Australia after the historic same sex marriage ballot, which has been ongoing as a postal vote since September, came out “overwhelmingly” in favour of legalizing same-sex marriage.
 
Results released Wednesday by the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed that 61% of the population voted to allow same-sex marriage, with 38% voting against. The Australian Bureau of Statistics also revealed that more than 12.7 million people across the country, or 79.5% of the population, completed and submitted the non-binding survey with every state and territory returning a majority “yes.”
 
It’s the beginning of the end of a long-running campaign to allow marriage equality in Australia, something already legal in the majority of English-speaking countries worldwide.
 
Speaking after the result, Australia Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said it had been an “overwhelming” response in favour of “yes” and called for same-sex marriage to be legalized before Christmas.
 
“They voted ‘yes’ for fairness, they voted ‘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,” Turnbull told reporters in Canberra.
 
Opposition Labor Party leader Bill Shorten told the Melbourne rally the postal vote itself should never have happened.
 
“I feel for young people who had their relationships questioned in a way I wouldn’t have thought we would see ever again, but nevertheless what this marriage equality survey shows is that unconditional love always has the last word,” he said.
 
Politicians are expected to begin discussing the specifics of the same-sex marriage bill as early as this week.