A lesbian Australian senator broke down on November 15 upon hearing the country voted overwhelmingly in favour of same-sex marriage.

South Australian Labor senator Penny Wong, the first openly gay woman in federal Parliament and leader of the Senate opposition, gathered with her colleagues in Canberra to watch the live announcement of the Marriage Law Postal Survey results, following an intense three-month campaign.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics chief David Kalisch announced 7,817,247 people out of about 12 million voted “yes” on their survey. When Kalisch clarified the vote proportion was 61.6 per cent in favour of legalising gay marriage, Wong lost her composure and began sobbing into her hands. She was then embraced by her colleagues from different political parties and a rainbow flag was draped around her shoulders by independent senator Derryn Hinch, a former opponent to same-sex couplings.

Photos and videos of the emotional senator, a South Australian lawyer with a reputation for being a measured and stoic individual, went viral and became the defining image of the Yes victory. Wong has been a tireless campaigner for the LGBT community for years and weathered opposition from her political opponents and even her own party who were once against gay marriage. During the campaign she publicly defended her family after her two young daughters were dragged into the debate. Credit: Twitter/Peter Jean – The Advertiser via Storyful