Dog under smekmånad – registrerades som ”ogift”

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) rights in Australia have gradually progressed since the late-20th century, to the point where anti-discrimination laws protect LGBT people in many areas of employment and service access, and same sex couples enjoy many of the same rights and benefits as non-same sex couples – with the notable exception of marriage. Australia is a federation of several states and territories, meaning many of its laws with respect to LGBT and intersex rights originate from a sub-jurisdictional level. States and territories began granting domestic partnership benefits and civil unions to same-sex couples from the mid 2000s and federal law recognises same-sex couples as de facto unions. Same-sex marriage has been proposed to the Commonwealth Parliament multiple times, but the parliament has rejected the bills on all occasions. Marriage, for federal law purposes, is defined as the union of a man and woman. The Australian Capital Territory legalisation of same-sex marriage was annulled by the High Court of Australia on the grounds that only the federal parliament has the constitutional and legal authority to legalise same-sex marriage. Same-sex adoption varies across each state and territory, with a slight majority of states allowing both joint and step adoption whilst others have not legislated for same-sex adoption altogether. Discrimination protections on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity or expression are strongly protected in each state and territory, and federal protection laws have been in place since 1 August 2013. Transgender Australians are able to change their legal gender in all states and territories and are recognised as their gender. The process of changing legal gender can come with legal and surgical boundaries, as is the case in New South Wales. Androgynous and genderqueer Australians are legally able to register their gender as 'non-specific' on personal legal documents related to sex. Australia has been referred to by publications as one of the most gay friendly countries in the world, with recent polls indicating that a majority of Australians support same-sex marriage. A 2013 poll conducted by Pew Research indicated that 79% of Australians viewed that homosexuality should be accepted by society, making it the fifth most supportive country in the world behind Spain (88%), Germany (87%), Canada and Czech Republic (both 80%). Because of its long history in regard to LGBT rights and its annual three-week-long Mardi Gras festival, Sydney has been named one of the most gay friendly cities in the country and in the world.