<p class="title">Australia became the 26th nation to legalise same-sex marriage on Thursday, prompting cheers and singing from a packed parliament public gallery in a country where some states ruled homosexual acts to be illegal until just 20 years ago.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Lawmakers, who had cast aside a conservative push to allow religious objectors to refuse service to same-sex couples, waved rainbow flags and embraced on the floor of the chamber, where earlier in the debate a politician had proposed to his same-sex partner.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Fewer than five of 150 MPs voted against the law.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"What a day. What a day for love, for equality, for respect," said Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. "...It is time for more marriages."</p>.<p class="bodytext">The laws, which will also recognise same-sex marriages solemnised in foreign countries, take effect from Saturday. Because a month's notice is required for the state to recognise a marriage, the first legal same-sex unions will be in January.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Australians had overwhelmingly endorsed legalising same-sex marriage in a postal survey run by the national statistics agency.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The bill cleared the upper house last month and had been expected to pass on Thursday after Turnbull's Liberal-National coalition government and the main opposition Labor Party had previously said they wanted to pass it by Dec. 7.</p>.<p class="bodytext">But religious organisations and conservative lawmakers had voiced strong opposition and proposed dozens of amendments.</p>.<p class="bodytext">During parliamentary debate, they pressed for broad protections for religious objectors, among them florists and bankers, to refuse service to same-sex couples.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"These amendments, rather, are a shield for people and organisations that hold to a traditional view of marriage. They are not a sword to be wielded in the service of bigotry," government MP Andrew Hastie said in parliament.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Amendments to permit lay celebrants to decline to solemnise same-sex marriages and businesses opposed to the unions to refuse service at wedding receptions were all defeated, one after the other, during three days of debate.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Love has won, and it's time to pop the bubbly," Greens MP and same-sex marriage supporter Adam Bandt said.</p>
<p class="title">Australia became the 26th nation to legalise same-sex marriage on Thursday, prompting cheers and singing from a packed parliament public gallery in a country where some states ruled homosexual acts to be illegal until just 20 years ago.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Lawmakers, who had cast aside a conservative push to allow religious objectors to refuse service to same-sex couples, waved rainbow flags and embraced on the floor of the chamber, where earlier in the debate a politician had proposed to his same-sex partner.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Fewer than five of 150 MPs voted against the law.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"What a day. What a day for love, for equality, for respect," said Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. "...It is time for more marriages."</p>.<p class="bodytext">The laws, which will also recognise same-sex marriages solemnised in foreign countries, take effect from Saturday. Because a month's notice is required for the state to recognise a marriage, the first legal same-sex unions will be in January.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Australians had overwhelmingly endorsed legalising same-sex marriage in a postal survey run by the national statistics agency.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The bill cleared the upper house last month and had been expected to pass on Thursday after Turnbull's Liberal-National coalition government and the main opposition Labor Party had previously said they wanted to pass it by Dec. 7.</p>.<p class="bodytext">But religious organisations and conservative lawmakers had voiced strong opposition and proposed dozens of amendments.</p>.<p class="bodytext">During parliamentary debate, they pressed for broad protections for religious objectors, among them florists and bankers, to refuse service to same-sex couples.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"These amendments, rather, are a shield for people and organisations that hold to a traditional view of marriage. They are not a sword to be wielded in the service of bigotry," government MP Andrew Hastie said in parliament.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Amendments to permit lay celebrants to decline to solemnise same-sex marriages and businesses opposed to the unions to refuse service at wedding receptions were all defeated, one after the other, during three days of debate.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Love has won, and it's time to pop the bubbly," Greens MP and same-sex marriage supporter Adam Bandt said.</p>