Same Sex Marriage in Australia

Running head: SAME SEX MARRIAGE IN AUSTRALIA
Same Sex Marriage in Australia
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Author Note

1SAME SEX MARRIAGE IN AUSTRALIA
Introduction
Marrying a person of the same sex is referred as same sex marriage. It can be a union
of two men or two women who wish to continue to live together and raise children. In some
sections of the society, the concept of marriage is regulated by religious concepts and beliefs.
The religious sanctions and the social barriers used to make the concept of marrying a person
from the same sex a taboo. This restricted many couples from the society to openly express
their sexual preferences. During the medieval times, the Roman Catholic churches advocated
that same sex marriage is a restriction imposed by God and people should follow the norms
advocated by the church. A number of political and social clashes emerged within the society
that were centered on the concept of same sex marriage.
Australia took a milestone step in the direction of same sex marriage when it became
the 25th country to recognize the concept of same sex marriage on 7th December, 2017.
Almost all the members in the government supported the concept of same sex marriage and
the bill was passed with their consent. The country supported the decision whole heartedly
and the members of the LGBT community were elated by the decision (Hanckel & Morris,
2014). The decision recognized that marriage should happen on the basis of love irrespective
of the social status and gender. The acceptance of the society and by law led to the promotion
of the concept that Australia is a country that promotes harmonious relationship between the
residents. The passing of law was considered as a win for the long struggle of the people who
suffered during the struggle for the attainment of their rights.
The struggle for the acceptance of law to the concept of same sex marriage is a long
endured one. The law was passed earlier by the government of Australia in the year 2013 by
the Australian Capital Territory but it was later declared vague by the government on the
grounds of unsuitability to the federal structure. The law faced rejection and this led to the

2SAME SEX MARRIAGE IN AUSTRALIA
possibility that the concept of same sex marriage would never receive sanction from the
government. There were a number of attempts for legalizing the concept but all of them failed
considerably. The concept of same sex marriage found a supporter in the form of Former
Prime Minister of Australia, Malcolm Turnbull. It was during his time that the concept of
same sex marriage received sanction from the parliament. The Australian government finally
resorted to conducting a survey on the issue of same sex marriage. It was advocated that a fair
idea can be derived only conducting an independent survey (Hanckel & Morris, 2014). This
will help the government to understand the rate of support the issue of same sex marriage has
in the country of Australia. The conduction of survey did not require the any governmental
authorization and also faced a lot opposition from the political sphere (Garretson, 2014). The
elected party gave their word that if the survey received a majority of votes from the people
of the country, they will work for legalizing the concept of same sex marriage. When the
result of the survey was published the supporting ratio was at 61.6% approximately. This
paved the way for legalizing the concept of same sex marriage by the federal government
structure.
The concept of same sex marriage did not receive any cultural sanction. The cultural
aspect always negated this concept as it was advocated that according to the traditional roots
of culture does not provide any sanction to the concept of same sex marriage. Culturally the
aspect of same sex intimacy was denied by every culture. There were a lot of cultures that
promoted and supported homosexuality but the concept of same sex marriage always
attracted negative views.
The secular perspective did not sanction permission to same sex marriage. The
religions that exist in the present world have always opposed the concept of same sex
marriage. They advocated that the religions across the world consider this concept as
unfavorable to their customs. The religious sanctions always opposed the concept of one man