Rainbow flags come out under grey skies as same-sex marriage is legalised
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Version 0 of 1. Andrew Barr, the ACT's gay deputy chief minister, cried, and then apologised, because he hadn't wanted to. Simon Corbell, the Labor attorney general, choked up as he articulated a point about segregation. The Liberal leader, Jeremy Hanson, bristled about the undesirability of legal limbos and abuses of the standing orders – and made a virtue of the provincial and the practical. Hanson insisted that Canberra must simply be allowed to be Canberra, not seek opportunities to style itself as the default social incubator for the country. People had crammed into the public gallery of the ACT legislative assembly on Tuesday, ignoring the oppressive low-hanging sky, weaving through the rain, wanting to bear witness as Canberra became the first jurisdiction to legalise same-sex marriage. They spilled out of the chamber into a holding room festooned with rainbow flags, and into the foyer. One person clutched a hand-painted thank you sign. Inside the chamber, the crowd was hushed primly by the Speaker of the assembly. So muted, the emotion of the onlookers became a stubborn, perceptible ripple – a murmur of approbation or disapproval. Outside, unburdened by the strictures of the standing orders, the witnesses shouted their approval – their muffled joy looped back into the chamber. When the "ayes" eventually had it, the public gallery stood in unison as if on the crest of a wave. They cheered. They sang, Love is in the Air, with harmonies – suggesting a certain musical aptitude if not careful pre-planning. Reporters squatting in the media gallery behind all that ebullience, behind the triumph and relief and uncertainty contained in the resonance of that moment, fumbled their phones and their notebooks in an effort to record history. Watching on from the floor were Christine Healy and Susan Nicholls. When the ACT enacted civil partnership legislation for same-sex relationships, Healy and Nicholls were the first couple in the territory to take advantage of the new regime. "We were the first couple to use that, to register our civil partnership," Healy told Guardian Australia after the vote. "We've supported the equal marriage movement from the beginning." The couple – together for 28 years – are defying the uncertainties, banking the progress, making wedding plans for 20 December. The new law is a week to a fortnight away from being listed on the ACT register, then couples need to give 30 days' notice of their intention to marry. "If the law exists on the 20th of December, we will be getting married," Healy said. The couple are acutely conscious the legal victory of Tuesday may prove fleeting. They knew the legislative assembly would pass the legislation, the numbers were there – but what happens from here is hard to predict. The commonwealth intends to challenge the ACT's law in the high court, and may yet seek an injunction stopping the new legal regime from taking effect. The Abbott government is not saying, one way or another, at this point, whether it intends to injunct. The ACT law was amended at the last minute on Tuesday to give it the best prospect of surviving its outing to the high court. The ACT chief minister, Katy Gallagher, told the assembly her government was not "rattled" by the prospect of a challenge, not deterred by a "legal contrivance". Corbell said the amendments made it plain that the ACT's intention was to make a law that could exist concurrently with commonwealth law; that the territory's intent was legalising marriage between two adults of the same sex, not challenging the commonwealth on the existing definition or regulation. "Whatever happens, we won't give up the fight," Healy said on Tuesday. The two women expressed regret that ACT Liberals voted along party lines, rather than with their consciences; and that the vigorous prosecution of territory rights had fallen out of fashion. "The disappointing thing is there are two if not more members of the Liberal party in the legislative assembly who we know are onside with us," Nicholls said after the vote. "We know that. We know that from past things they've said, and from support they have given to us as a community. It must be very galling for them to have to toe the party line." Speaking afterwards on television, Tony Abbott's gay sister, Christine Forster – who has recently become engaged to her partner – said she hoped Liberals would stand up for a conscience vote when the issue returned, inevitably, to the federal arena. Forster said her brother's traditional views on marriage would not change, but her belief was he would not stand in the way of a conscience vote proceeding. Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning. |