w rd 2 the woss
The Voice of the Wildcats
Australia's Tumultuous Relationship with Gay Marriage
By Jenna Pearce
Australia has been fighting an uphill battle to legalize gay marriage since 2004, when the Howard Government decided to ban it. Since then there have been many, many attempts to legalise it, both at a federal and state/territory level, none of which have led to success.
Even when there seemed to be hope in 2013 when the Australian Capital Territory passed a same-sex marriage law; unfortunately before anything drastic could happen, the High Court struck the bill down because “it was inconsistent with federal laws,” crushing same-sex supporters hopes. One thing’s for sure, it’s been a long journey for Australia to get where they are, and even now, 13 years later, they’re only just getting the rights they have been campaigning for.
Fact of the matter is, there have been 22 separate attempts to legalise same-sex marriage in Australia, and they have all been unsuccessful. However, luck was with Australia as the current Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has continued to show that he supports same-sex marriage.
From September 12 - November 7 of 2017 the Australian government conducted a voluntary postal survey, trying to gage the population's opinion on legalising same-sex marriage. The government promised that if the majority of respondents voted “Yes” that they would start the path toward a private member’s bill, making all marriages equal in the eyes of the law.
There were many important organizations fighting for the “No” vote, among them were the Archdiocese of Sydney (a religious power) and its Anglican counterpart. “Even if we win, we will need to continue to fight to defend marriage and to protect Australians from the consequences of its redefinition.” Coalition spokesman stated, saying that even if they won the “No” votes, the “Yes” campaign will not stop trying. “They’ve already said numerous times that they will continue to push to redefine marriage.”.
So on the 15th of November, in 2017 many waited to hear the results of the survey. The results were unexpected after so many years of turmoil, 61.6% (far greater than that of America and many other countries when it came time to consider same-sex marriage legislation in other countries) of the participants had voted for same-sex marriage with more than 79.5% of eligible voters having taken part in the voluntary poll.
Turnbull states that he hopes that the bill will be passed before Christmas, however there are still many wheels turning in the minds of those who had originally opposed the bill, hoping to add amendments to the bill, “concerning personal freedoms”.
It’s fair to say that it has taken Australia a long time to get where they have, but let’s hope that now that they’ve achieved this, Australia can move on as one whole, unified continent.