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‘Yes’ campaigners in Bendigo will fix their sights on Canberra, demanding MPs follow the public’s lead and enshrine same-sex marriage in law.
Bendigo Says Yes volunteer co-ordinator Tash Joyce was among dozens of people at the city’s trades hall for the Australian Bureau of Statistics announcement and said the overwhelming emotion in the room was relief.
“It’s a release for people that they’ve been validated,” she said.
See more: How Bendigo celebrated the “yes” result
In Bendigo, 92,264 voters took part in the survey. Of these, 68.7 per cent voted yes, while 31.3 per cent said no.
"Euphoric" is how Merle Stunnell described her feelings upon hearing the result, a huge smile spread across her face.
Noah Pinder said he had been concerned that the result would come "down to the wire", but as it turned out, 133 electorates said 'yes'.
"All of my anxieties just washed away," Mr Pinder said.
But not everyone was happy.
Catholic Bishop of Sandhurst Les Tomlinson says the church is "disappointed" with the outcome of the same-sex marriage postal survey, but will respect and accept the outcome.
Bishop Tomlinson described the result as the "narrowest of margins", and that the survey showed many people in Australia remained opposed to same-sex marriage.
"The Catholic Church will continue to promote and practice the tenet of our faith that marriage is a lifelong union of a man and a woman, open to the possibility of children," he said.
"The focus is now on our parliament to ensure that the proper freedoms are legislated to guarantee that the many people who remain in favour of the traditional definition of marriage are free to speak, teach and act on this belief."
What’s next?
Ms Joyce said attention would quickly turn to the federal Parliament, where an amendment to the Marriage Act is expected to be tabled as early as Thursday.
While some government MPs have signalled their intentions to propose amendments or alternative legislation, a move they say would better protect religious freedoms, Ms Joyce said the law should not defend discrimination.
“There are people within the Coalition that understand having legislation that specifically excludes certain groups of people is just wrong and I hope they have the strength within their party room to put that forward because Australia has voted, Bendigo has voted, and said this is what we want,” she said.
Click on the states or territories below to see the result for each region:
Counsellor Linda Kirkman, who was present as the results event to offer support, said the first step would be mending damage done over the last three months of the survey.
“Even if marriage equality laws pass without any allowance for ongoing discrimination, there’s going to be a lot of hurt and trauma that will take time to heal,” Ms Kirkman said.
“Human rights are so important for everybody and unless we have absolutely inclusive human rights, then people who are excluded – even if its just in the process of being evaluated in this way – are going to be stressed.”
Look back at the live coverage here:
Need support?
LGBTI people in need of support can contact Switchboard/QLife on 1800 184 527 from 3pm – midnight for support or chat online.
The 24-hour 13 11 14 Lifeline hotline and 1300 659 467 Suicide Callback Service are also available.
People aged 25 years or younger can also call theKids Helpline on 1800 55 1800.
Place your cursor over each picture and click on the blue and white circles to reveal the stories behind the faces:
See more coverage here
Campaign for a ‘yes’ result
What the church had to say
Other news