Same-sex marriage 2010 upon promulgation by the Argentine President. Argentina thus became the first country in Latin America, the second in the Americas, and the tenth in the world to legalize same-sex marriage. Australia became the second nation in Oceania to legalise same-sex marriage when the Australian Parliament passed a bill on 7 December 2017. The bill received royal assent on 8 December, and took effect on 9 December 2017. The law removed the ban on same-sex marriage which previously existed and followed a voluntary postal survey held from 12 September to 7 November 2017, which returned a 61.6% "Yes" vote for
History of same-sex marriage in Australia assent the following day. Between September 2004 and October 2017, there were 22 unsuccessful attempts in the Federal Parliament to legalise or recognise same-sex marriage under federal law. Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull supported same-sex marriage during his time in office when same-sex marriage was legalised by the Parliament. The Turnbull Government went to the 2016 federal election with a policy to put the issue of same-sex marriage to a plebiscite, and was narrowly re-elected, though the legislation to establish the plebiscite was rejected by the Australian Senate in November 2016. Consequently, the government conducted a voluntary postal survey between