The world is applauding Australia after its citizens took a key step forward to legalising same-sex marriage in the country.
On Wednesday (15 November), Australians overwhelmingly voted in support of same-sex marriage in an eight-week, non-binding referendum, with 61.6% siding with LGBTQ couples.
According to BBC News, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told his country that 12.7 million people β or 79.5% of eligible voters in the country β took part in the mail-in ballot over the last two months.
"[Australians] have spoken in their millions and they have voted overwhelmingly yes for marriage equality," Turnbull said in a national address on Wednesday. "They voted yes for fairness, yes for commitment, yes for love. And now it is up to us here in the parliament of Australia to get on with it."
As Turnbull mentioned in his speech, this vote doesn't mean that same-sex marriage is now legal in Australia. The ball is in Parliament's court to ratify the referendum results with passage of a formal bill.
Orange is the New Black star Ruby Rose, a native Aussie, evoked the contentious nature of the marriage equality campaign in a poignant tweet aimed at opponents of the movement.
"Now that we jeopardized the health and wellbeing of my community by subjecting them to hateful propaganda and stress can we move forward and just have equality," she wrote. "We are human beings."
Australian national treasure Kylie Minogue described the result as proof that "love is love" while Apple boss Tim Cook tweeted: "Congratulations Australia! Another important step toward equality for all."
Below is more reaction to Australia's historic vote (warning: NSFW tweets below):
