Australia Foreign Minister Penny Wong marries longtime partner

Australia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong speaks during the Maritime Cooperation Forum of the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit, in Melbourne, Australia March 4, 2024. REUTERS FILE PHOTO

SYDNEY — Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong, the country’s first openly gay female parliamentarian, has married her partner Sophie Allouache, Wong said on Sunday.

“We are delighted that so many of our family and friends could share this special day with us,” Wong said on social media platform Instagram, alongside a photo of her and Allouache in wedding attire and holding a bouquet of flowers.

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Wong and Allouache have been together for nearly two decades and tied the knot on Saturday at a winery in Adelaide, the capital of South Australia, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. Wong represents the state of South Australia in the senate.

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A Labor senator since 2002, Wong is the first Asian-born person to hold an Australian cabinet position.

Same-sex marriage became legal in Australia in 2017, a watershed for a country where homosexuality was not decriminalized in all states until 1997.