BuzzFeed News caught up with some of the same-sex couples who have been able to get married in Australia and it turns out they’re doing just great.
When Peter Fraser and Gordon Stevenson married in Sydney on June 27 last year, friends, family and dozens of strangers came to wish them well. But within minutes their marriage was over.
Same Love Photography / Via samelove.com.au
Fraser, a dual British/Australian citizen, and Stevenson were the first same-sex couple to take advantage of Britain's recently enacted marriage equality laws by marrying in a British consulate.
But the second they left the consulate and set foot back on Australian soil, their marriage was no longer recognised - under Australian law, it simply did not exist.
A year later, the happy couple are still living together in legal limbo, married in the UK but living in sin in Australia.
Fraser says married life has brought he and Gordon closer together after 20 years as a couple, but it's still disheartening to know they're not considered equal in Australia.
"It still gives us that feeling of being a second class citizen. Although we are married in Britain, it doesn't really count here. It is upsetting to be treated differently, and actively discriminated against in the country where we live and pay taxes. It's got to end."
Since Fraser and Gordon married, 120 dual citizen couples have followed in their footsteps in consulates around Australia.
Same Love Photography / Via samelove.com.au
In Melbourne, 43 couples have married while Sydney has seen 37 ceremonies. In Perth, 19 couples have tied the knot under the watchful eye of Queen Elizabeth and with a British flag as a backdrop. 12 same-sex couples have gotten hitched in Brisbane and 10 in Canberra.
Tony Brenann is Britain's Deputy High Commissioner to Australia and has performed most of the ceremonies for same-sex couples that have been held in the High Commission in Canberra.
He tells BuzzFeed News that the weddings are a nice change from the usual consulate business of helping British nationals in need, and a delight for consulate staff who get a chance to help make people smile.
"It's quite fun. Each ceremony is different depending on the couple's wishes. Some of them have been quite small while some have been quite large and a very celebratory affair. But they're a nice thing to be a part of. They're happy occasions."
For Brennan, the highlight has been marrying couples who are "quite senior in age."
"It's wonderful that those people have found their partner at that stage of their lives," he says.