AUSTRALIA: Thousands Rally For Marriage, Angrily Denounce Anti-Gay Prime Minster Tony Abbott [VIDEO]

Thousands of Australians rallied in Melbourne today in protest of Prime Minster Tony Abbott’s continued opposition to a free vote on marriage equality in Parliament. Via the Age:

On a bustling city street under overcast skies, they came in their thousands. Some came in hope, optimistic that change was inevitable. Some came in anger, outraged at a prime minister standing in the way, and a Federal Parliament too slow to act. Whatever their reason, one thing was clear: if Tony Abbott was hopeful of a circuit-breaker on same-sex marriage by deferring it to the people, the people weren’t buying it. “Stick your plebiscite where the sun don’t shine!” MC Anthony Wallace told the crowd at Saturday’s marriage equality rally in Melbourne. “Pass the bloody bill!” Days after a majority of government MPs voted to maintain the Coalition’s position against legalising same-sex marriage, thousands of people gathered in the CBD to take part in the city’s biggest marriage equality demonstration yet. Speaking at the event, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten reiterated his promise that if Labor won the next election, he would introduce a bill to legalise marriage equality within the first 100 days of office. “This week Mr Abbott and his right-wing Liberals broke the heart of the nation,” Mr Shorten said. “They are holding Australia back. It should not be the case that people are treated as a second-class citizen merely because of who they love… Why is Mr Abbott so stuck in the past that he’s worried about who someone else marries? Get a life!”