The Australian Capital Territory’s Chief Minister Andrew Barr, our first openly gay government leader, has married partner Anthony Toms.
The couple tied the knot at a “small family ceremony” on Wednesday at the historical Longworth House in Anthony’s hometown of Newcastle, New South Wales.
Barr posted to Instagram a collage of wedding snaps. The ACT Labor leader thanked everyone who voted “yes” in the 2017 same-sex marriage postal survey.
“Anthony and I married yesterday on our 20th anniversary and the 10th anniversary of our ACT civil partnership,” he wrote.
“We had a lovely day and want to thank the 7.8 million Australians (and especially the 175,000 Canberrans) who voted yes to marriage equality.”
Andrew Barr is Australia’s first openly gay government leader
Andrew Barr became Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory in 2014, becoming the country’s first openly gay government leader.
In his first speech, Barr paid tribute to his longtime partner who was watching on from the crowded public gallery.
“Anthony, I love you and I look forward to the day we can legally marry in this country,” Barr said.
The couple first met at the inaugural SpringOut LGBTIQ festival in Canberra 20 years ago.
Then a decade later, in 2009, the couple celebrated a civil partnership with a ceremony at the National Library of Australia in Canberra.
In 2013, the ACT became the first jurisdiction in Australia to pass same-sex marriage laws in October that year.
Thirty-one couples wed, before the marriage certificates were sadly voided by the High Court. The court struck out the ACT laws for “conflicting” with the federal Marriage Act.
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