同
性恋群体的权益一直是各国所关注的热点问题。近日澳大利亚成为了全球第26个同性婚姻合法化的国家。这一成果的取得经历了怎样的困难？以往的反对者现在态度如何？严肃的辩论现场又发生了哪些暖心的小故事？请关注本期Quriosity。
仅4票反对！立法投票现场直击！
Australia’s Parliament voted overwhelmingly to legalize same-sex marriage on Thursday, with just four votes against the bill, overcoming years of conservative resistance to enact change that the public had made clear that it wanted.
12月7日，澳大利亚议会以仅4票反对的压倒性优势投票通过了同性恋婚姻合法化的议案。多年来，保守派始终顽强抵抗，拒绝使其合法化。而公众却明确表达了对这一改变的强烈愿望。
After the vote, spectators in the public gallery began singing “I Am Australian,” a well-known anthem. Lawmakers stood and looked up at the gallery, some wiping tears from their eyes.
投票结束后，在旁听席的观众开始高唱爱国歌曲“我是澳大利亚人”。立法者起立并注视着上方的旁听席，一些人擦拭着眼角的泪水。
意义非凡！多年努力法案终于落地！
“This belongs to us all,” Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, a longtime supporter of same-sex marriage who had previously failed to get it legalized, said on Thursday. “This is Australia: fair, diverse, loving and filled with respect. For every one of us this is a great day.”
“这场胜利属于我们所有人，”澳大利亚总理马尔科姆·特恩布尔在投票当天说道。长久以来，马尔科姆都是同性婚姻的支持者，但他之前为同性婚姻合法化所做出的努力都失败了。“这才是澳大利亚：公平、多样、博爱，充满尊重。对我们每一个人来说今天都是意义非凡的一天。”
The new law expands on earlier legislation that provided equality to same-sex couples in areas like government benefits, employment and taxes, and it changes the definition of marriage from “the union of a man and a woman” to “the union of two people.” It automatically recognizes same-sex marriages from other countries.
早前的立法为同性伴侣们提供了政府福利、就业、税收等方面的平等权利，此次的立法是在此基础上的一次推进。此外，新法律还将“婚姻”的定义由“一个男人和一个女人的结合”改成了“两个人的结合”，同时也自动承认在海外结合的同性婚姻。
Gay rights advocates praised the landmark vote even as they said it was long overdue. In a country where there had been 22 unsuccessful attempts in Parliament to legalize same-sex marriage since 2004, they said, the law should be seen as the triumph of a democracy learning to live up to its values.
同性恋权益的拥护者们纷纷赞颂这一具有里程碑意义的投票，尽管他们也说，澳大利亚早该如此。从2004年开始，澳大利亚同性婚姻合法化的尝试共有22次，但均以失败告终。他们说，这次立法应该被视为一场胜利——一个民主国家不断学习，终于没有辜负“民主”二字背后的价值观。
浪漫暖心！同性恋议员现场求婚！
The final debate in the House of Representatives lasted four days. On the first day, there was a marriage proposal: Tim Wilson, a gay member of Parliament with the center-right Liberal Party, spoke of the struggles he and his partner, Ryan Bolger, had encountered as a couple, before choking up, finding him in the public gallery and asking: “Ryan Patrick Bolger, will you marry me?”
在众议院进行的最后辩论持续了4天。在辩论的第一天，现场还有一次求婚。蒂姆·威尔逊是中右翼自由党的一名议员。他讲述了自己和同性伴侣赖安·博尔杰遇到的困难，他声音几近哽咽，面向旁听席上的赖安并问：“你愿意嫁给我吗？”
The answer came loud and clear — “yes” — as did public congratulations from the deputy speaker, Rob Mitchell.
他得到的回答清晰而响亮——“我愿意！”，同时也获得了副议长罗伯·米切尔的公开祝贺。
达成共识！这一次爱情完胜！
A handful of lawmakers tried to add amendments that they said were meant to safeguard religious freedoms for opponents of same-sex marriage, but their efforts failed. Mr. Turnbull noted that nothing in the legislation requires ministers or other celebrants to oversee weddings of gay couples or threatens the charity status of religious groups that oppose same-sex marriage, two concerns the lawmakers had raised.
少数立法者试图增加一些修正案，声称要保护同性婚姻反对者的宗教自由，但他们失败了。总理马尔科姆回应了那些立法者最关注的两个问题：新法中，没有任何一条要求同性伴侣举行婚礼时必须有牧师或其他司仪神父在场，也没有任何一条威胁到了反对同性婚姻的宗教组织的慈善团体性质。
At this moment, politicians on the left and right fell into a rare moment of relative consensus and embraced public sentiment. Even former Prime Minister Tony Abbott, a staunch critic of same-sex marriage, seemed to have softened.
在这一刻，左翼和右翼的政客们罕见地达成了相对一致的共识，都顺应了公众的呼声。就连前总理托尼·阿博特——一个同性婚姻的坚定反对者，在此刻似乎都立场软化了。
Bill Shorten, leader of the opposition Labor Party, asked for forgiveness “for the long delay, for the injustices and the indignities both great and small.”
在野党工党的领袖比尔·肖腾为了 “该立法的长期拖延”以及“所有大大小小的不公正和不尊重”而请求谅解。
He also paid tribute to a Labor Party colleague, Senator Penny Wong, a gay politician who he said had walked “a lonely road and a hard road” to help change Australia.
他还对一位劳工党同僚议员佩妮·王表示了敬意。他说，这位同性恋政治家为了给这个国家带来改变，走了“一段漫长而艰难的道路”。
“This is a big victory,” said Evan Wolfson, the founder of Freedom to Marry, which led the campaign for marriage equality in the United States. “It is a huge affirmation of the dignity of gay people in yet another country, and that will reverberate in the lives of people across Australia and the world.”
伊万·沃夫森是自由婚姻运动的发起者，曾领导了美国的婚姻平权运动。他说：“这是一次巨大的胜利，又一个国家对同性恋群体的尊严给予了巨大肯定，此举必将在澳洲乃至全世界引起重大的反响。”
文章来源：纽约时报
图片来源：网络
