Australia’s Parliament legalized same-sex marriage this week, prevailing over years of resistance from the country’s conservative groups on the subject.
The final approval for the bill came in the in the House of Representatives with just four votes against the bill. The senate had passed the legislation last week.
The vote follows a recent national referendum that established strong public support for gay marriage.
Australia’s Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull who is a longtime supporter of same-sex marriage called it “a great day” for every Australian.
The vote proved to be an emotional moment with spectators in the gallery singing a popular anthem “I Am Australian,” and lawmakers celebrating the occasion.
New Law Grants Equality To Gay Marriage
The new law will now provide equality for same-sex in several areas including employment, taxes and government benefits. It also changes the definition of marriage from “the union of a man and a woman” to a more inclusive one of “the union of two people.”
It also recognizes same-sex marriages entered into in other countries.
Gay rights advocates welcomed the vote although they said it was overdue. There have been 22 previous attempts in the Parliament since 2004 to legalize gay marriage.
A few lawmakers made a belated attempt to add amendments aimed at safeguarding religious freedom for opponents of same-sex marriage, but the attempt failed.
Addressing the concerns raised by these lawmakers, PM Turnbull pointed out that the legislation did not require ministers or other such persons to mandatorily preside over gay weddings and neither did it threaten the charity status of religious organizations that oppose same-sex marriage.
Emotional Final Debate
The final debate in the House of Representatives lasted four days, with nearly 100 speakers participating.
The debate saw several emotional speeches as politicians across the spectrum expressed a rare sentiment of consensus on the issue, and supported the public sentiment which has favoured same-sex marriage for several years now.
The debate referred to the many years of hurtful homophobia in the country that marked the battle for marriage equality.
National Referendum A ‘Delaying Tactic’
The nonbinding national referendum held last month saw 61 percent of voters in the country express support for same-sex marriage. But gay rights activists had criticised the decision to hold the vote calling it a tactic to delay a decision on the matter.
An openly gay Senator Penny Wong who has long battled for equal rights noted that the campaign preceding the referendum had seen “the best of our country and also the worst.”
Several gay Australians also expressed frustrated at the way referendum process was conducted as the conversation had been dominated by those opposing it .
Still Lot of Work To Be Done
Tristan Meecham, the artistic director of the performance company All the Queens Men noted that the discussion surrounding the issue had not addressed several key concerns such as suicide by teenagers dealing with gender and sexuality issues.
In several countries where same-sex marriage has been legalized, the effects of institutional acceptance of same sex marriage has been positive and visible according to studies
A study published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics this year showed that the reduction of societal stigma through legalization of marriage helped cut down suicide attempts among lesbian, gay and bisexual teenagers by around 14 percent.
