Penny Wong, who is the first openly gay woman to serve as a senator in Australia, has married her long-time partner Sophie Allouache after nearly two decades together. Their daughters, 11-year-old Alexandra and 8-year-old Hannah, were flower girls at the wedding.
The couple got married last Saturday at the Bird in Hand winery in Adelaide, South Australia. Wong is a senator representing South Australia. The Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his fiancee Jodie Haydon attended the ceremony, along with other senior government ministers from Wong’s Labor political party, as reported by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation..
“We are thrilled that so many of our family and friends were able to share this special day with us,” Wong wrote as a caption for an Instagram photo showing herself and her new wife.
The two women met in 2007 but did not publicly announce their engagement. Allouache gave birth to their first child in December 2011 through in vitro fertilization [IVF], and to their second daughter in 2015.
In 2001, Wong made history as the first openly gay woman elected to Australia’s senate. In 2007, she became the first openly gay woman to serve as a cabinet member when she was appointed as the country’s first Minister for Climate Change. In 2008, she played a role in passing legislation that granted some equal civil rights to same-sex couples in areas such as taxation, healthcare, and retirement benefits. Pink News reported.
However, when asked in 2010 about the possible legalization of same-sex marriage in Australia, her Labor party did not support it, and she expressed agreement with that stance.
“On the issue of marriage, I think the reality is there is a cultural, religious, and historical view around that which we have to respect,” she said at the time. “The party’s position is very clear, and that is an institution between a man [and] a woman… I do respect the fact that’s how people view the institution.”
Between 2004 and 2017, the Australian Parliament considered 22 unsuccessful bills introduced to legalize same-sex marriage. However, in 2017, the government conducted a national plebiscite asking residents whether the law should be changed to allow same-sex marriage — over 61% answered “yes.”
Australia’s Senate and House of Representatives both passed a bill to legalize same-sex marriage in 2017, and the country conducted its first legal same-sex marriages on December 15, 2017. After the bill’s passage, a photographer captured a picture of Wong tearing up.
