Australian Parliament on Thursday voted to legalize same-sex marriage across the Oceanic nation.
The bill was passed to change the definition of marriage from a man and a woman to also "a union of two people of the same sex".
The Australian Senate passed the legislation last week with 43 voting in favor of the same sex marriage bill while 12 members of parliament voted against it , the law will take effect in about a month, with the first same sex weddings expected a month after it takes effect.
“It’s an historic day for the Australian people and I think the celebrations around the country when we finally … achieve marriage equality are going to be immense,”said Senator Janet Rice before the vote, Senator Penny Wong of the Labor Party senator who is a lesbian, said: “I am feeling happy and excited for the outcome of this vote.”
The same sex marriage was endorsed by 62 percent of the Australian voters
The bill allows religious organizations to boycott gay weddings and existing civil celebrants can also refuse to officiate at gay weddings, but celebrants registered after gay marriage becomes law would not be exempt from the anti-discrimination laws.
Australia's Minister of Finance Mathias Cormann, a same-sex marriage antagonist, said he felt “great satisfaction” that the issue was resolved. “It was a polarizing issue on which good Australians had strongly and sincerely held views on both sides of the argument,” Cormann said.
“I and my colleagues on the coalition side always took the view that the best way to resolve a disagreement in the community like this is by giving the Australian people which we did, we kept faith with it, the Australian people embraced the process and the result was emphatic,” he said.
Veteran gay rights supporter Rodney Croome said; he expected the first same-sex weddings in Australia would not take place until February.
The law will likely take effect after a month. State laws then require couples to give 28 days’ notice of their intention to marry, Croome said.
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