Culture

Ellen DeGeneres Is The Latest Celebrity To Call For Australian Marriage Equality

Honorary Australian.

by Tom Clift  8 October 2016

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As of this year, Australia is the only developed, English-speaking nation on the face of the planet that still refuses to allow same-sex couples to marry. Let that stew for a moment. Ireland has marriage equality. New Zealand has marriage equality. Even a country that has a 50/50 chance of electing a racist Twinkie to the White House has marriage equality. Yet thanks to gutless politicians kowtowing to narrow-minded conservatives, the so-called lucky country still lags behind.

Pauline Hanson Says That If You Want Marriage Equality You Can Just Move Somewhere Else

The good news is that the international community seems increasingly unwilling to let us off the hook, thanks in part to Australian celebrities shining a spotlight on the issue in front of the eyes of the global media. Actor Margot Robbie wore a pro-marriage equality shirt while hosting SNL, in partnership with the new Say I Do Down Under campaign launched by Kylie Minogue’s fiancé Joshua Sasse. Minogue, meanwhile, told reporters this week that she and Sasse want to get married in Melbourne, but will not do so until the marriage act is changed.

Now, another major celebrity has thrown her weight behind the campaign, with American talkshow host Ellen DeGeneres creating a Say I Do Down Under emoji and tweeting it out to her more than 62.5 million followers.

It’s not really surprising that DeGeneres would lend her support to such a cause, given that her 2008 marriage to Australian actor Portia de Rossi still isn’t legally recognised as a marriage by the Australian government. Frankly, if making Ellen an adopted citizen isn’t enough to convince a country to support marriage equality, then I just don’t know what is.