Thoands rally for gay marriage Atralia ahead of vote | Rters

Contents:

• THOANDS RALLY FOR GAY MARRIAGE ATRALIA AHEAD OF VOTE
• THOANDS RALLY FOR GAY MARRIAGE ATRALIA AHEAD OF VOTE

THOANDS RALLY FOR GAY MARRIAGE ATRALIA AHEAD OF VOTE

7, 2017SYDNEY, Atralia — Atralia’s Parliament voted overwhelmgly to legalize same-sex marriage on Thursday, overg years of nservative ristance to enact change that the public had ma clear that fal approval the Hoe of Reprentativ, wh jt four vot agast the bill, me three weeks after a natnal referendum showed strong public support for gay marriage. “It is a huge affirmatn of the digny of gay people yet another untry, and that will reverberate the liv of people across Atralia and the world. Turnbull noted that nothg the legislatn requir misters or other celebrants to oversee weddgs of gay upl or threatens the chary stat of relig groups that oppose same-sex marriage, two ncerns the lawmakers had fal bate the Hoe of Reprentativ, which lasted four days, featured more than 100 the first day, there was a marriage proposal: Tim Wilson, a gay member of Parliament wh the center-right Liberal Party, spoke of the stggl he and his partner, Ryan Bolger, had enuntered as a uple, before chokg up, fdg him the public gallery and askg: “Ryan Patrick Bolger, will you marry me?

THOANDS RALLY FOR GAY MARRIAGE ATRALIA AHEAD OF VOTE

”For many lawmakers and gay-rights advot workg behd the scen, the bate took on the feel of a munal reckong wh Atralia’s long history of one pot, Adam Bandt, a Greens Party lawmaker om Melbourne, psed for a moment of silence after referrg to the “nocent blood” of gay Atralians who were hurt durg the long battle for marriage Shorten, lear of the opposn Labor Party, asked for fivens “for the long lay, for the jtic and the digni both great and small. ”He also paid tribute to a Labor Party lleague, Senator Penny Wong, a gay polician who he said had walked “a lonely road and a hard road” to help change Atralia.

Advot for gay marriage assailed the Turnbull ernment’s cisn to hold the referendum, llg a layg tactic tend to appease his party’s far-right factn. ”Many other gay Atralians said they had been hurt and trated by the referendum procs. “The nversatn around marriage equaly was beg domated by those who were agast , ” said Tristan Meecham, the artistic director of the performance pany All the Queens Men and the founr of the Comg Back Out Ball, meant to enurage olr gay Atralians not to return to the out of the discsn, he add, were issu that go beyond marriage, such as the way olr men and women al wh earlier trmas tied to prejudice and gay bashg, or suici among teenagers alg wh issu of genr and sexualy.

This bate has been my life ever sce I knew I was gay.

”In many untri where same-sex marriage is already legal, the tangible effects of stutnal acceptance have bee more visible, and posive, studi have study published earlier this year, the journal JAMA Pediatrics, found that rcg societal stigma through marriage legalizatn had led to a 14 percent rctn suici attempts among lbian, gay and bisexual Wolfson said that both the Uned Stat and Spa, which legalized same-sex marriage 2005, polls have found support for same-sex marriage growg stead of dimishg, a sign of the laws’ posive effects. While there are fewer and fewer rights and obligatns attached to married upl which do not attach to facto upl—a stat currently enpassg same-sex upl most legal ntexts—supporters of gay rights argue this is not enough, and that the remag differenc are unacceptable.

Kev Rudd reversed his opposn to gay marriage May 2013, shortly before regag the Labor learship. In the electn mpaign, Abbott reaffirmed that he would not support legislatn to allow gay marriage.

Among them was Christe Forster, the gay sister of Tony Abbott, the former Atralian Prime Mister who has long been seen as the face of the “no” mpaign. Opponents of the chang argued they would legalize discrimatn agast the gay muny.