Hannah Holec

English 3

Mr. Phillips

3 May 2018

The Effects of Gay Marriage in Australia

Rainbow flags, glitter, and excitement were just the minor results of the gay rights

celebration in Australia this past year. On December 9th, 2017, same-sex marriage was

legalized with a 61.1% vote yes from the public, making Australia one of the final western

countries to join the fight for equal rights. Just days after the new legislation, a sea of happy

faces joined hand in hand for one of the largest pride parades in the capitol, Sydney. Despite

the positive response, 38.4% of Australians still linger with their vote no. According to the

LGBTQIA+ community, something has to be done about that. The legalization of gay marriage

in Australia has caused a push for new LGBTQIA+ legislation, activism, and acceptance for the

group

Same-sex marriage becoming legalized is just the tip of the iceberg when reading into

the legislation passed by the Australian parliament. Along the legalization of marriage equality,

several legal definitions and religious protections have become altered. For instance, the

original definition of marriage was heteronormative, stating that the union was "between man

and woman." The updated version stands as a "union of two people" instead, to aid the new

marriage laws. Dually, after December 9th, those registering to administer marriages will not be

able to turn down gay couples do to religious beliefs (Chang). Adding onto this, a parliament

vote took place in the northern territory to legalize the rights to adoption for the newly married

same-sex couples. The northern territory was the last of the territories to pass this right (Hose).

Another uprising taking place in the fight for LGBTQIA+ rights is the growing

transgender movement in Australia. Trans individuals are those who are born one sex and

transition throughout their lives to another to fit their identity. There is little help in Australia to
aid these individuals and activists are hoping to change that. An important issue currently is the

idea that a transitioning individual cannot change the sex listed on their birth certificate if in

current matrimony. To change to the desired gender on the certificate, the couple would need to

divorce for it to be legally recognized. This obviously isn't ideal as it comes with the hassle of

getting re-married (Karp). Additionally, in six of the territories, it's impossible for a trans

individual to change their sex on a birth certificate without reassignment surgery. This is an

issue the plagues several Australians and instills a lack of gender validity. Even for those who

can fully transition, the costs are entirely "out of pocket" and can make the process even more

difficult for those involved (Karp). Trans activists are rallying together and hoping for a change

across Australia completely.

The fight for equality in Australia has always been a presence, but the recent

legislation was a kickstarter the new generation of activists. Those attending the rallies,

protests, and parades all made it clear that the fight doesn't end in Australia. A push for equality

across Asian and South American countries is wanted, considering there has yet to be a single

Asian country to legalize same-sex marriage (Karp) . Anna Brown, the co-chair of the equality

campaign in Australia, says that her mission "revolves around removing every last stain of

discrimination". These activists are dually fighting for the rights of intersex individuals, another

group part of the LGBTQIA+ community. Those who are born intersex often times possess the

male and female genitals, with mixed hormones and sex traits. Currently, the biggest issue

plaguing the community is the right to consent with infantile surgery. Frequently when a child is

born intersex, medical professionals will perform surgery to "fix" the sex of the baby. This

happens without consent of the child. The Organisation of Intersex International Australia has

been fighting this fight for years and hopefully the end is soon to come(Karp).

Although over half of Australia's population voted for the legalization of same-sex

marriage, still almost 40% of the population remain against it. Specifically, voting shows that the

southern territory had the most NO votes (Karp). Those in opposition say that this new law is
going to ruin the purity of marriage, which they claim should be between a man and a woman. A

big supporter for the NO campaign, Gerry Wood, went as far to comment on the same-sex

adoption legalization in the northern territory. Wood said “children should have the right to a

mother and a father and no child should be left without either.” Though he only is commenting

on on same-sex couples and he fails to mention other circumstances where a mother and father

aren't present, such as divorce, parent death, and so on. Adoption in the northern territory is at

an all time low, especially for indigenous children. This new legislation is going to allow more to

adopt and the numbers to rise. The children's commissioner, Colleen Gwynne was the first of

many parents to adopt with the new legislation, dismissing the comments of Wood and proving

the important effects of equality. No matter the parents, adoption is important for the thousands

of kids in foster care throughout the country.

Continuing with the NO campaign, a large part of the motive behind their message is

that marriage should be strictly traditional. The definition of traditional marriage is marriage

between a man and woman, no exceptions. With this they believe that the YES campaign and

the legalization of same-sex marriage is going to destroy the countries values and turn the youth

gay. According to AU Womens Weekly, the number of gay teenagers has been on the rise since

the early 2000s, up to almost 4.6%.With marriage becoming legal in the past 4 months this

shows that the new legislation is going to do nothing but instill acceptance for more teens to

come out, not influence their sexuality. Recent studies reported by the New York Times show

that societal stigma reduces through marriage legalization, and there existed a 14% decrease in

suicide attempts among lesbian, gay and bisexual teenagers. This is an important statistic to

prove that the LGBTQIA+ community needs this marriage legislation and push for acceptance

more than ever. The legalization of marriage is just the first step. As the new wedded couples

come, they start the path to normalizing the LGBTQIA+ community and destroying the

heteronormative grasp that's had its hands on Australia for years. "There's definitely a long way

to go before Australia recognizes how it's heterocentric mindset marginalizes LGBTQIA+ youth,"
said Louis Hansen, a queer activist constantly on the front lines of the fight for the quality battle.

This idea puts into perspective not only the ground we need to cover, but the effects that will

and have been made by this fight.

Lastly, the idea of traditional marriage, usually not only comes with a heteronormative

expectation but a religious one as well. Marriage as a union has always had religious ties and

the NO campaign wants to keep that idea "sacred.". To some, homseoxuality is interpreted as

wrong through the religious text of the Bible. Therefore several conservative ordained ministers

and churches with this belief want to refuse to be a part of wedding of a same-sex couple. This

idea was brought up when the legislation was being written to allow marriage rights and as of

currently, a single religious exemption exists. As of now, unless directly related to the wedding

of the couples, a worker cannot refuse to serve the couples based on religious beliefs. For

example, explained in Gay Alcorn's article on the subject, "A hotel owner could refuse to host a

reception but could not refuse to hire a room to a gay couple on their honeymoon." Currently no

protections against commercial businesses exist. Although, the exception to this rule is the fact

that those registering to become ordained ministers after the 9th of December in 2017 will not

be able to refuse marriages. Some see this as a bullish insertion of equality into their daily lives.

Religious exemptions was one of the first ideas voted on, as Australia wanted to avoid the mess

that took place with the gay-cake debate in the United States in 2016. A bakery refused to bake

a gay-couple a cake and the argument took to the supreme court (Alcorn). A strong opposition

of this idea though is the general idea that the NO campaigners and several religious

organizations say this is too much, that it's discriminatory towards their own beliefs. Alcorn

cleverly titled her article, "is freedom to discriminate a right worth protecting?", which perfectly

exemplifies who is really being discriminated against and why we need to change that.

This new legislation is going to give way for a better fight for equality across Australia

as a whole. "So I guess now I can say things are going to get better and actually mean it,"

Aretha Brown says, another queer activist who fought alongside Brown, another previously
mentioned young activist. This shows how eager the LGBTQIA+ generation is to extend this

acceptance, equality, and love for the community and those in support. The vote on same-sex

marriage has pushed Australia far in the past 6 months, and this path will widen and grow along

the way. Activists want to see change around the world and from what's taken place here, it's

been seen that can happen.

 Works Cited

Alcorn, Gay. “Marriage Equality's next Fight: Is Freedom to Discriminate a Right Worth Protecting?”

The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 14 Nov. 2017.

Cave, Damien, and Jacqueline Williams. “Australia Makes Same-Sex Marriage Legal.” The New York

Times, The New York Times, 7 Dec. 2017.

Chang, Charis. “What the SSM Laws Actually Say.” NewsComAu, 9 Dec. 2017.

Hose, Nick. “Same-Sex Adoption Laws Pass in NT after Personal Debate in Parliament.” ABC News,

19 Mar. 2018.

Karp, Paul. “Marriage Equality Is a Reality – so What's the next LGBTI Battle?” The Guardian,

Guardian News and Media, 27 Dec. 2017.

Manatakis, Lexi. “12 Young, Queer Australians on the Gay Marriage Vote.” Dazed, Dazed Digital, 15

Nov. 2017.

Now To Love. “What Percentage of the Population Is Gay? (Trust Us, the Number Is Higher than You

Think...).” Now To Love, Australian Women's Weekly, 14 Dec. 2017.