IT’S A YES! Australians have voted in favour of legalising same-sex marriage, saying "yes" to the historic social change by a substantial margin of 61.6 per cent to 38.4 per cent.
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After years of political stagnation, the public has now tasked the Turnbull government with changing the law before Christmas to allow same-sex couples to marry.
Almost 80 per cent of eligible voters participated in the unprecedented voluntary postal survey, giving the verdict an authority unmatched by most elections globally.
86,641 people from the Riverina electorate took part in the survey, with 54.6 per cent (47,333 people) of participants voting yes and 45.4 per cent (39,308 people) voting no.
“Yes! That’s how I’m feeling!” Parkes woman Beck Baxter said shortly after the national announcement was made on Wednesday.
Beck is a member of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and questioning (LGBTIQ) community and was in charge of establishing the Central West Branch of Equal Voices, which is a national movement of affirming and LGBTIQ Christians.
Beck said she knew the statistics were in their favour while the survey was conducted over the last three months.
“But there was always that anxiety, and I definitely felt that,” she said.
“It’s so good (the result), I just wish I was in Sydney or Canberra right now because they’d be having parties.”
Beck, along with her son Ethan Bondareff, chose to go to the Bent Food and Wine Restaurant to watch the announcement on TV.
“I knew the boys at Bent would be watching it,” she said.
“Now [politicians] need to make it happen quickly...but it may have to take a change in government.”
Couple Ryan Cunningham and Kyle Rayner – who opened their own restaurant called Bent Food and Wine in August 2014 – were thrilled with the result.
“Parkes as a rural country town has always been very supportive of us and our business,” Ryan said.
“And this is another great step to full equality as a young gay male.”
Federal Member for the Riverina Michael McCormack said the vote showed democracy at work.
“We went to the election committed to give all people their say on whether or not they wanted the marriage act changed and we have held to that promise and the people of Australia have responded,” he said.
“I am pleased nearly 80 per cent of people voted, I think that shows that people wanted to have their say and now they have it is now up to the Parliament to uphold the will of the people and change the act accordingly.”
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