A State-by-State Breakdown of Australia's Support for Same-Sex Marriage

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In August of last year, something amazing happened in Tasmania. Tasmania is like that distant cousin you never paid much attention to, but then, when you hit your mid-twenties, you take a second and realise that, hey, they're actually pretty cool. Yep, that's Tassie. While you might not have appreciated your 1999 family holiday to Hobart, now they've got that whole rugged landscape, quality art and bar scene thing going on and, all of a sudden, everyone's totally into it. And to blow your mind that little bit more, the island state did something really, really awesome. They passed in-principle support for marriage equality in the Parliament of Tasmania and, in turn, skyrocketed itself up the ladder of people everywhere to become Australia's coolest state.

Both houses passed theoretical support for same-sex marriage (the Lower House passed the motion seventeen months ago) with a vote of 8-5 — which is big deal as Tasmania has traditionally had a pretty conservative government. Tasmania's display of support further erodes the notion that the (super exxy) plebiscite was never a good idea (may the marriage equality plebiscite rest in peace and never, ever rise again as a zombie).

Each state has a varied history on support of same-sex marriage, but let's just remember that in March of this year, an Essential Media poll found that 64 percent of respondents agreed that same-sex couples should be allowed to marry. Ultimately, it's up to the Federal Parliament to make the call — not the states. The Coalition have proposed a potential plebiscite on the issue, which would have cost Aussie taxpayers anywhere between $158 million and half a billion, was smacked down in the Senate.

However, if all states show their support for same-sex marriage, it could have a lot of influence on what happens at a Federal level. Tassie's shown their support, but where's the mainland at on the issue? In partnership with SKYY Vodka, which showed its support for marriage equality throughout March by donating $1.00 from every product purchased in Australia to just.equal, we take a look at where everyone's sitting at the moment.

Parliament of NSW

NSW

In June of 2015, the NSW Parliament passed a conscience vote (unanimously, mind you), calling on the Federal Government to pass the Marriage Equality Bill 2015, showing their support of the issue. In 2013, they nearly passed a bill to legalise same-sex marriage but it fell through at 21 votes no to 19 votes yes. Close, but no cigar. And in 2014 they finally abolished the gay panic defence (pretty late to the game though). The state is generally moving in the right direction and seems to support same-sex marriage, but hasn't been able to coax the Federal Government to do the same.

VICTORIA

Victoria has just has passed the Relationships Amendments Act 2016 (which came into effect on October 1 2016) that allows immediate recognition of domestic partnerships, de facto relationships and international same-sex marriages and acknowledges civil unions on death certifications (hooray, now you can be yourself in the afterlife too!). While Victoria's government has been generally more liberal than other states, they haven't made huge headway on the marriage equality issue — but they've made a lot of noise about it. According to Australian Marriage Equality, 73 percent of the Victorian House of Reps support gay marriage and 50 percent of the Senate too. Since September 1 2016, Victoria has allowed same sex adoption as well, thanks to the Adoption Amendment Act 2015, a bill that was several years in the making.

The Victorian Government introduced a bill in February of 2016 that aimed to crack down on 'gay conversion' therapist. Why on earth, in this state, gay conversion therapists are rampant enough to require a crack down, we'll never know. But from February 1 2017, a new commission has been set up to execute permanent bans on health providers peddling 'gay conversion'.

QUEENSLAND

In Queensland same-sex activity was considered illegal until 1990, which is disturbingly recent. Further to that, Queensland laws don't allow convictions to be expunged, meaning there are people alive today with a criminal record for being gay (come the heck on, Queensland). But the state has traditionally been incredibly politically conservative, and that's reflected in their stance on gay marriage.

One little win of note, however, is the recent abolition of the gay panic defence on March 21 2017. About goddamn time. It only took a petition with 289,000 signatures and the support of Stephen Fry. So, heads up to the terrible people of the world – an 'unwanted sexual advance' from someone of the same sex as you is no longer grounds for self-defence murder.

ACT

Canberra is the dark horse in the running competition for Australia's best state. The capital briefly passed a marriage equality bill in December of 2013, but it was quickly returned to the earth by the High Court, who deemed it inconsistent with the Federal Marriage Act and hence unconstitutional (boo hiss boo). Since then, they've been pretty quiet on the gay marriage front.

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

In September of 2015, Western Australia (like NSW) passed a conscience vote calling for the Federal Government to pass the Marriage Amendment Bill 2015, which would grant full marriage rights to same-sex partners. The Feds didn't pass it, but snaps for Western Australia.

The recent Labor victory in Western Australia s also a positive sign for the progression of LGTBQI rights. As the incoming party ran on a platform that promised to fully fund the Safe School program, expunge criminal records of consensual homosexual acts, and potentially legislating for civil unions. Let's hope they make good on their promises.

NORTHERN TERRITORY

Although the NT came to the party on legalising homosexuality pretty early, unfortunately they're pretty backwards when it comes to recognising same-sex marriage. Unlike all other Australian states, the NT government doesn't offer relationship registration or domestic partnerships to same-sex folk, but classifies them as 'de facto unions'. This grants them some of the same financial benefits as married couples but is not equal in any sense of the word. No snaps for the NT. Particularly since in November of 2016 they banned same-sex couples from adopting, while the rest of Australia legalised it. Absolute baloney, NT.

SOUTH AUSTRALIA

For a southern state with such a banging music scene, South Australia is pretty backwards on gay marriage and gay rights in general. They've shut down several attempts in parliament to consider same-sex civil unions and, despite support from some members of parliament, they still don't even recognise overseas same-sex marriages. And SA is the only to retain the gay panic defence within common-law. Very sad. However, they've made some strides recently. The Relationship Register bill was passed, meaning gay couples can register their relationship all official like (although, let's note that ABS don't count these registered relationships as marriages when totting up the number, boooo). And the bill also allows same-sex couples access to altruistic surrogacy and IVF treatment for the gals. And they've amended their adoption laws to allow adoption for same-sex couples, which went into effect on February 17 of this year. Better. Still not good. But definitely better.

So some states are doing well to put pressure on the Federal Government to change same-sex marriage laws, but it's in no way unanimous yet. Ultimately, it's up to the Federal Government to decide if they introduce a marriage equality bill into the House of Reps like every other piece of legislation. If you want to make some noise on the issue, you can go visit just.equal  to find out how to best take action.

Show some SKYY Vodka support for marriage equality by taking a selfie and tagging it with #CheerstoEquality and #AusPol.

Top image: Azhar J via Flickr.