How a country’s political system works can be integral to whether or not same-sex marriage becomes legal

Last year saw a Supreme Court decision which meant the legalization of same-sex marriage across the entire of the United States. Canada too, though having a very different political system, has legalized same-sex marriage at the national level via its Supreme Court. Australia, by contrast, has not yet legalized same-sex marriage, despite having a largely similar political system to Canada’s. Mary Bernstein writes that the differences cannot be explained by public opinion alone; unlike Canada and the US, Australia does not have a federal bill of rights, nor are its courts an avenue for people to gain rights that are not set out in law.