Culture

The Marriage Equality Plebiscite Is Finally Dead And People Are Really, Really Happy About It

Pleb's dead baby. Pleb's dead.

by Junkee  11 October 2016

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Last month it started to become pretty clear that Labor wasn’t going to support the marriage equality plebiscite. Today, they made it official, joining the Greens and the Nick Xenophon Team in declaring their opposition. With those three parties united against the plebiscite, there’s no way legislation enabling such a vote can make it through the Senate.

The Coalition Wants To Legalise Further Discrimination Against Same-Sex Couples

So it is that nearly a year after Tony Abbott first proposed the idea, the plebiscite is finally dead. While at times sections of the marriage equality campaign supported the public vote as a pathway to actually getting reform, in recent weeks the movement united against it. They were concerned about its cost, the fact it wouldn’t actually be binding and the potential harm it could cause the LGBTIQ community.

What this means for the future of Australian marriage equality is still a little unclear. While a majority of the country is in favour of changing the marriage act, there are conservative elements in parliament who are dead set against it – and unfortunately, Malcolm Turnbull needs their support to stay in power.

But while there’s still plenty of fighting left to be done, for the time being at least, people are just really, really happy.

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Feature image via Wikimedia.