Australia has had a notably convoluted relationship between its gay rights activists and its politicians. A post over at Eideard put it all into layman’s terms:

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd won the 2007 election on a platform that supported the former conservative government’s legal definition of marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

Rudd, who considers himself a moderate Christian, said earlier this week that he “fully respected” the integrity of same-sex relationships but would not change Labor’s ban on gay marriage.

His government has moved a raft of legislation to remove same-sex discrimination from almost 100 national laws, in areas such as pensions, tax and employment.

Thousands of people held rallies and demonstrations across the nation as the vote was held, calling on Labor to legalise gay marriage…

A recent poll suggested up to 60 percent of Australians supported gay marriage and the statistics bureau in May announced it would count same-sex couples who declared themselves married in the national census.

Photo illustration by Lucas Pattan.