Parade, yes vote will encourage openness |Photos, video

Kate Hinton was among the hundreds who took part in the Central West Pride March on Saturday.

Ms Hinton said she joined the march to support diversity in public education.

“Not a lot of teachers come out. I’m out and proud and I think there needs to be more changes in the public system to help youths say it’s okay to be gay,” Ms Hinton said.

“I know a few [teachers] who are a little bit worried about their job and stuff like that, but hopefully with the yes vote and changes, more policies and different policies in the school, they might be more comfortable coming out.”

In the Parkes federal electorate, 52.7 per cent of people who voted in survey, or 41,408 residents, said they support changing the laws to allow same-sex couples to marry.

Across Australia 61.6 per cent of eligible voters or more than 7,800,000 people voted yes.

Federal Member for Parkes Mark Coulton has made a commitment to vote for same-sex marriage in Parliament despite marking the “no” box on his own survey form.

From the beginning Mr Coulton said he would vote in Parliament with the majority. 

“I think this was a predictable outcome and I will be comfortable enough in doing what I said I was going to do,” he said after the results were released on Wednesday.

Ms Hinton said she “cried a little bit” when she heard the result of the survey.

“I was in the classroom and I’ve got this watch that was connected up to my phone. I saw it on my watch while I was teaching and I yelled out ‘yes!’. The kids went ‘what was wrong are you okay miss?’ and I said ‘oh they’ve just passed the vote’. They were all hugging me and asking if I was going to get married and 50 other questions. It was really emotional,” she said.

“I just hope with the yes vote that more teachers come out and feel comfortable.”

With the results being announced earlier in the week, Ms Hinton said she did expect the crowd at the Pride March to be slightly bigger. However, she said people were probably turned off by the rain.

“Besides that I think it’s fantastic that people feel fantastic to come out, especially in Dubbo. Sydney is a massive place to celebrate and I want the country towns to celebrate just as much and feel comfortable,” she said.

It was the third time Ms Hinton said she had been in the march and the teacher said she hoped to see it swell and grow every year.