What began as an on-screen proposal between Melbourne resident Elyse James and her girlfriend of eight months Rebecca Edwards, turned into a mass television wedding composed of 41 same-sex couples.
Producers of the popular Australian evening talk show Adam Hills in Gordon St. Tonight had taken a poll days before the proposal aired, asking viewers, “If you were prime minister for a day, what law would you change or introduce?”
The most common response, by far, was to legalize same-sex marriage.
As the crowd cheered, the camera turned as Edwards got down on one knee and asked her girlfriend to become her wife. Adam Hills, the comedic talk show host, offered to throw the couple a televised wedding extravaganza.
“The following week [after the on-air proposal], we had a whole bunch of gay and lesbian couples saying, ‘We’d like to be a part of this as well.’ And so the second week, we said, ‘Alright, it’s open to any gay and lesbian couples,'” Hills told HuffPost Weddings. “Then the following week, we had complaints from bi and transgender couples, saying, ‘What about us?’ So eventually we said fine—as long as you’re same-sex, then come on and get married.”
In the end, 41 couples were exchanging vows at the country’s first televised, mass, same-sex wedding.
The message for marriage equality was made clear, but stayed true to the show’s off-the-cuff comedic nature, as couples tied the knot by saying “I take you to be my unlawful TV partner.”
An audience of 538,000 watched when it aired on Wednesday, it’s now available online for all to see. Check out the video below:
