Same-sex marriage bill now law in Australia
By Judy Evans
@JudyEv (340019)
Rockingham, Australia
December 10, 2017 7:00pm CST
The same-sex marriage bill has become law in Australia with the Governor-General signing off on the bill after it was passed by both Houses of Parliament. There was singing in the packed gallery when the result of the voting was read out. I’ve added a link.
Many gay couples have already registered for marriage at registry offices across the country and there is even a same-sex wedding magazine about to be published. Gay couples who were married overseas will now have their marriages recognised in Australia.
However, in Western Australia, one same-sex couple is filing for divorce and finding that it isn’t as easy as it might be for a heterosexual couple. The women married in 2015 at a consulate in Perth under the laws of a European country. However they cannot now utilise the divorce system of that country because they are not resident there. No doubt, in time, they’ll get around the problem. Things can sure get complicated sometimes.
Same-sex marriage will be legal in Australia with Parliament agreeing to change the Marriage Act and end the ban on gay and lesbian couples marrying.
19 people like this
17 responses
@allknowing (136434)
• India
12 Dec 17
Our tv channels have been screaming from their roof tops about this (lol)
3 people like this
@allknowing (136434)
• India
12 Dec 17
@JudyEv Our tv channels have a global presence
1 person likes this
@marguicha (223010)
• Chile
11 Dec 17
Congratulations for Australia! I´m sure that in every place and every action there will be some things that don´t work as easily as the couple you write about. But those cases also happen, I´m sure, with heterosexual couples. I have told that my friends who live with me are having all sorts of problems to get their nationality back and to get their belongings back to their hands. They are even having problems with turning the money from retirement (in US dollars) to be turned to Chilean pesos.
2 people like this
@JudyEv (340019)
• Rockingham, Australia
11 Dec 17
I can imagine that there is a lot of red tape to go through. It can be very tiring and disheartening to have to go through all this - for your friends I mean. But also life can be difficult for gay people who don't have equal rights.
1 person likes this
@marguicha (223010)
• Chile
11 Dec 17
@JudyEv Life can be difficult for many people. Just last week, one of the candidates for president in my country (the one I will not vote for) talked that transgender people can be "corrected". And still many people talk that gays are people with "bad habits". Shame!
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (340019)
• Rockingham, Australia
11 Dec 17
@marguicha I have a friend who is very religious and has a son who is a priest. She thinks being gay goes against the Bible as the family is the basis of society and anything else is not 'natural'. Yet apparently it's okay for her son to be celibate. If that's not 'unnatural' I don't know what is. She thinks with prayer and encouragement gays can be 'cured'. I just turn and walk away. I can't believe she is so behind the times.
2 people like this
@snowy22315 (180703)
• United States
11 Dec 17
Most states have ratified that here now I think.
2 people like this
@JamesHxstatic (29413)
• Eugene, Oregon
11 Dec 17
@snowy22315, the Supreme Court ruled that it is legal in all 50 states now.
1 person likes this
@FayeHazel (40243)
• United States
11 Dec 17
That is odd that a gay divorce (that sounded funny, back from the time when gay meant fun loving)--- but anyway that a gay divorce would be more complex than a straight couple divorce.
2 people like this
@FayeHazel (40243)
• United States
12 Dec 17
@JudyEv I wonder too how gay came to take on it's current meaning? I would have thought they would have shortened the word homosexual or something, but then, I think that the** first part of the word homosexual** is considered rude/slur at times, which makes me wonder why there too since it's only a shortening of the longer term....
1 person likes this
@misunderstood_zombie (8142)
• United States
11 Dec 17
That's good their marriages will be recognized in Australia now.
2 people like this
@yanzalong (18988)
• Indonesia
11 Dec 17
I still don't understand this kind of marriage.
1 person likes this
@garymarsh6 (23404)
• United Kingdom
15 Dec 17
Bravo for their forward thinking however there is another law that is possibly being passed soon which I am far more interested in!
1 person likes this
@garymarsh6 (23404)
• United Kingdom
23 Dec 17
@JudyEv No I was thinking of the Euthanasia bill.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (340019)
• Rockingham, Australia
23 Dec 17
@garymarsh6 Active voluntary euthanasia is legal in the Northern Territory, and Victoria has now legalised assisted dying for the terminally ill, but this won't come into effect until mid-2019. There are very strict conditions to this law.
@JamesHxstatic (29413)
• Eugene, Oregon
11 Dec 17
I am very glad to hear that news and happy for the gay people who now have the same right afforded the rest of us.
2 people like this
@JudyEv (340019)
• Rockingham, Australia
13 Dec 17
I don't think your information is quite right. I'll need to research that. I haven't heard about it but that doesn't mean much. I think the issue is more about the right to choose how you'll die rather than euthanasia as in getting assistance to die.
1 person likes this
@teamfreak16 (43418)
• Denver, Colorado
12 Dec 17
Hooray for the Australian LGBT community!
1 person likes this
@Letranknight2015 (51957)
• Philippines
11 Dec 17
That is definitely an accomplishment for your country, something my country is a long away to go.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (340019)
• Rockingham, Australia
11 Dec 17
Some cultures and societies will find it a very difficult thing to accept.
@catsholiday (460)
• Derby, England
11 Dec 17
It is about time all civilized countries recognised this
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (340019)
• Rockingham, Australia
12 Dec 17
We were lagging behind so I'm glad we've caught up now.
