Australia - Vote In Favour Of Same Sex Marriage!

When I got in from work last night, news was just filtering through from Australia, that those eligible to vote in the Australian Plebiscite to legalise gay marriage, had voted in favour of this historic change; 61.6% voted yes, determining the fate of this contentious subject, at least in the eyes of the Australian people!

This is an important step forward, not only for Australia, but also for Darrell and myself. In 2015 we made the decision to move to Spain, because it was impossibly difficult for me to return to Australia, with my partner and begin the process of rebuilding our life there. Our marriage was not recognised officially and we would need to pay around $10,000 for a visa, allowing me to stay with Darrell; a figure out of our reach at the time. A similar visa for a married hetrosexual couple, would be a tenth of this figure. Discrimination was still alive and kicking Down Under!

Moving to Spain was a first step, in our eventual relocation to Darrell's home country, something we plan to do one day in the future; certainly not yet, we have amazing opportunities ahead of us in Spain, using our time here to see as much of Europe as we can, before we eventually settle into retirement on the other side of the world.

The decision to allow the same sex marriage, should never have been decided in a public vote. Politicians in Canberra should have had the courage to legislate this union into law; instead a weak government, lead by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnball sidestepped the issue, due to the support given to his party, by a so called 'religious freedom' coalition, blocking the issue being decided by parliament. Prime Minister Turnball's own political future took priority over the rights of others.

Luckily the Australian public voted in favour of legalising gay marriage, one of the last western nations to do so; a shocking indictment on what used to be one of the most liberated countries of the world. The Prime Minister has indicated, he wants same sex marriage on the statute books by Christmas, lets hope he keeps his word; good luck Australia, welcome to the 21st century!
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