Via JoeMyGod: the moment the crowd in Sydney learned the results of the marriage equality "survey." Australian leading politicians, cowards one and all, refused to move on marriage equality despite polls showing overwhelming support for allowing same-sex couples to marry. So instead of doing something, Australian decided to hold a plebiscite—a non-binding, mail-in vote, i.e. another public opinion poll. But this one would cost the government upwards of $120 million. And guess what? It turns out that all those previous public opinion polls, the one the government could've looked to for free, were correct: Australians overwhelmingly support marriage equality. NYT:

A solid majority of Australians voted in favor of same-sex marriage in a historic survey that, while not binding, paves the way for Parliament to legally recognize the unions of gay and lesbian couples. Of 12.7 million Australians who took part in the survey, 61.6 percent voted yes and 38.4 percent voted no, officials announced on Wednesday morning. Participation was high, with 79.5 percent of voting-age Australians taking part. “The Australian people have spoken, and they have voted overwhelmingly ‘yes’ for marriage equality,” said Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who had called the national survey as a way to put pressure on conservative lawmakers, many from his own party. “They voted ‘yes’ for fairness, they voted ‘yes’ for commitment, they voted ‘yes’ for love.”

Turnbull is promising full marriage equality by Christmas but the handwringing/concern-trolling/sincere-religious-belief-bullshitting about bakers and florists has already begun.