Menace, brinkmanship, joy: how marriage equality made it through Australia’s parliament

‘Rainbow rebels’: Trevor Evans and Tim Wilson look on as Trent Zimmerman congratulates Dean Smith during the first reading of his marriage equality bill in the Senate in 2017. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Five years ago the results of the marriage equality postal survey were announced in a joyous turning point for those who had campaigned for Australia to recognise that all loving relationships should be treated equally by our laws.

Within a month the Australian parliament had done what it always should have been prepared to do and backed Senator Dean Smith’s private member’s bill to legalise same-sex marriages.