Australia votes in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage

Australians overwhelmingly voted in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage in a postal survey on Tuesday.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that 61.6 percent of voters in the national postal survey approved a change to Australia’s current law. Same-sex marriage has been banned in the country since 2004.

Just 38.4 percent opposed the change.

{mosads}79.5 percent of eligible Australian voters cast a vote in the survey, according to The Guardian. Every Australian state and territory had a majority of “yes” votes in the survey.

The vote does not automatically legalize same-sex marriage. After the results were announced, Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull called on Australia’s parliament to pass a bill that would allow same-sex couples to be married.

“Now it is up to us, here in the Parliament of Australia, to get on with it, to get on with the job the Australian people have tasked us to do, and get this done. This year. Before Christmas,” Turnbull said.

Labor Party leader Bill Shorten praised the vote, calling it “a fabulous day to be an Australian.”

“And I just want to make one promise: today we celebrate, tomorrow we legislate,” Shorten said.

Australia’s vote follows a similar 2015 campaign in Ireland, when it became the first country to legalize same-sex marriage by popular vote.