A large group of Bellingen Shire Gay and Lesbians celebrated the Yes vote in style on Wednesday November 15.
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Emotions overflowed and many tears were shed as the result came in.
Champagne corks popped and the party continued throughout the afternoon.
“We have waited so long for this, to stand up as a country of equality,” said Clare Colins, who sent in most of the photographs in the included gallery.
The final photo was taken by Mel Bradbury, who commented:
“Here's a pic of my greatest heroes today celebrating their hard fought win Bello style. They may not look it here, but these are the faces of EXHAUSTION after what has been such a huge battle. Our work is done - it's now up to the pollies to do their job.”
The Courier-Sun did a quick survey of people in Bellingen to find out how they felt when they heard the news about the result.
Jo Piece from Vivid said: “It’s a glimmer of hope on the political horizon. And about time.”
Danny Whalen from Century 21, whose office is across the road from the Federal Hotel where the celebrations took place yesterday, said: “It’s good to see people being happy and enjoying what they desire.”
Jeff Carter: “The yes vote hasn’t really won yet. It’s an obvious thing to do, it’s a no-brainer. It should have been done ages ago to get it off the political agenda.”
Paul Young from Cheveux Hair Studio: “It’s about time, it’s been a long time coming. We went to a friend’s house to watch the announcement and then to the pub to celebrate.”
Ross Barry: “It doesn’t worry me. I don’t know why we had to go through it – the government doesn’t know what it’s doing.”
For our vox pop, we were looking for people who’d voted No as well as those who had voted Yes, but we were unable to find anyone happy to be included.
One lady said she was concerned about being targetted if her name and photo appeared in the paper.
“There’s been a lot of vitriol and it’s not worth it to comment,” she said.
Anonymously, she was willing to say that: “The result is not unexpected but I’m concerned about the follow-up laws.”