Australia has voted. Now it’s time for politicians to hear the answer and more importantly act.
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The majority of Australians want marriage equality. They want those who are in same-sex relationships to have their relationships acknowledged legally through marriage.
The survey has been described as “a cruel, public judgment of love and relationships’.
The debate was at times derogatory. The validity of someone’s love was challenged and at times degraded.
People’s beliefs were at times treated with disrespect. Both sides of the debate.
This was never a debate about homosexuality. This was settled 20 years ago when Tasmania was the last state to decriminalise homosexuality.
The survey also wasn’t about the rights of same-sex couples to have children. They do have children. For tax and social security purposes equality currently exists.
The debate was about treating everyone equally. But also offering same-sex couples the same legal rights in the event of a significant event such as emergency medical situations or funeral arrangements.
The yes vote is also a signal to those in our community who identify as LGBTQI that we are a progressive and inclusive country. That there is no shame in being their true selves.
The ‘no’ campaign also congratulated the yes voters. Coalition for Marriage spokesman Lyle Shelton said it was a decade-long campaign by the ‘yes’ voters for Wednesday’s result.
Some politicians have argued they would wait for their electorates results before committing either way on the official vote.
There should only be 17 politicians who could arguably vote against same-sex marriage becoming legal based on this reasoning. Only 17 of the 150 electorates had a majority no vote.
There are politicians who were elected on a lower percentage than those who voted in favour of same-sex marriage.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said it best following the result. He said Australians had voted for love and now was the time for parliament to “get on with it”. With this in mind, marriage equality should and could be official by the end of the year.
The majority of Tasmanians voted yes. In fact, our overall vote was higher than the national average for yes.
Politicians are elected to represent their constituents. Therefore there is an expectation on the government to get this right.
