Australia has just voted a big, fat YES to same sex marriage!
The Australian Bureau of Statistics confirm that of the 12.7 million Australians who voted in the plebiscite, 61 per cent ticked ‘yes’ to changing the law to allow same sex couples to marry.
And Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says laws will be changed to allow same sex couples to wed before Christmas.
“The people of Australia have spoken and I intend to make their wish the law of the land by Christmas. This is an overwhelming call for marriage equality,” Mr Turnbull said, after the results came out.
The result was unanimous across every state and territory, with the majority of voters agreeing it’s time to make the change.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics made the historic announcement earlier this morning, sending social media into a flurry of celebration.
According to the ABS:
- There were 7,817,247 votes for Yes and 4,873,987 for No. A further 36,686 votes, or 0.2 per cent, were unclear.
- Out of 150 Federal Electoral Divisions, 133 recorded a majority YES response. 17 of the divisions recorded a majority No response.
Same sex marriage – state by state
The YES vote came out on top in every single state. 74 per cent of voters in Australian Capital Territory recorded the highest YES with 74 per cent of voters wanting the change. Of the states, Victoria came out on top New South Wales recorded the lowest majority vote at 57.8 per cent. 
Love is love
Nearly 80 per cent of eligible Australians had their say, with 12,727,920 people filling out the ballot. More women participated than men, with 81.6 per cent (6,644,192) of eligible females and 77.3 per cent (5,980,168) of eligible males having their say.
Australian Statistician, David W. Kalisch, said the participation rate was high for a voluntary survey.
“The high response rate far exceeds expectations. [It] compares extremely favourably with other voluntary exercises conducted around the world thanks to the strong interest and engagement of eligible Australians in this topic,” he said.
Congratulations Australia, on becoming the 26th country to agree that love is love, no matter what.
