Stephen Daisley Stephen Daisley

Gay marriage is coming to Australia but it still has a rough path to travel

Australia is hardly the first country to back gay marriage but it certainly appears to be the most unlikely. A nation that once prided itself on backs-against-the-wall masculinity has just backed equal marriage in a government-run postal survey. Sixty-two per cent answered ‘Yes’ to the question: ‘Should the law be changed to allow same-sex couples to marry?’, with a response rate of 80 per cent.

Actually, it’s not all that shocking. Aussie attitudes to sexuality have changed beyond recognition in a generation. As has happened across the West, gays have gone from revilement to toleration to acceptance thanks to pop culture, demographics, and the decline of organised Christianity.

The result is a much-needed win for embattled prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, whose government has fallen into minority status amid the citizenship crisis and trails the Labor Party in the polls.

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