Australian Parliament legalizes same-sex marriage following postal referendum

• With a near-unanimous vote, the House of Representatives voted to amend the Marriage Act to remove the barrier to marriage rights for same-sex couples, following a similar vote in the Senate.
• A postal referendum, the result of a controversial decision by the Tony Abbott–led government in 2015 to put the marriage right question to popular referendum, returned 61.6% of Australians voting in favor of removing orientation-based discrimination in marriage law.
• The Marriage Act had been amended in 2004 to deny same-sex couples the legal right to marriage.

Read

“Marriage equality law passes Australia’s parliament in landslide vote” (The Guardian | December 2017)

“Same-sex marriage legalised in Australia as Parliament passes historic law” (The Sydney Morning Herald | December 2017)

“Same-sex marriage: First weddings take place in Melbourne, Sydney” (ABC News | December 2017)