Australia's only openly gay territory leader has gone viral on social media after he was pictured kissing his husband following an electoral victory.
Per The Guardian, the celebratory display occurred on national television on Saturday, October 17, when Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory Andrew Barr managed to win the 2020 Australian Capital Territory (ACT) general election for the Labour Party.
According to The Brisbane Times, the Labour Party secured 11 seats in coalition with the Greens, who earned three.
This alliance tipped the necessary minimum threshold of 13 seats, and now Labour and the Greens are in talks to form a minority government in the ACT's 25-seat-strong legislative assembly.
After the votes were tallied and he was declared the winner, 47-year-old Barr was given a congratulatory kiss by his husband, Anthony Toms, and the moment was captured in pictures which have since made a stirring impression on LGBTQ+ people all around the world.
Take a look at some of the reactions to the kiss from Twitter users below:
Per The Brisbane Times, in an emotional speech to the press made in the aftermath of his win, Barr stated:
"It is a humbling experience to lead a political party, and to lead a government. And particularly in a year like this one.
"We've had an extraordinary series of challenges thrown at us, as a city and as a community, and we've got through it because we've worked together.
"We've got through it because we've applied progressive values to our government decisions and because we've applied compassion and we haven't left people behind."
Barr added: "We met in this city, been together nearly 21 years, about to have our first wedding anniversary. Anthony, I love you."
According to ABC News.au, Barr and Toms have been dating for 20 years after first meeting in 1999. They entered into an ACT civil partnership in 2009, and married a decade later, on November 13, 2009.
In a post made on Instagram last year, Barr wrote: "Anthony and I married yesterday on our twentieth anniversary and the tenth anniversary of our ACT civil partnership. It was a small family ceremony in Anthony’s home town of Newcastle."
Barr added: "We had a lovely day and want to thank the 7.8 million Australians [...] who voted yes to marriage equality."
