Penny Wong, 55, Australia’s first Asian LGBT foreign minister, married her 20-year-old lover Sophie Aloisi.
According to foreign media and Yonhap News Agency on the 17th (local time), Minister Wong married at a winery in Adelaide, Australia, the previous day. The wedding was attended by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and several cabinet ministers, and two daughters, Alexandra (11) and Hannah (8), who the two obtained through IVF, were best men.
Minister Wong posted a picture of himself with Aloisi in a wedding dress on his Instagram and wrote, “I’m happy that many family and friends are together on a special day.”
Wong was born in kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, and moved to Australia at the age of five. He worked as a lawyer and began his political career in 2002 when he was elected to the South Australian Senate.
Asian, female, and LGBTQ+, he stands out as a politician in Australia, where white tiger sentiment is deep-rooted. When he was selected as climate change minister in 2007, he became Australia’s first Asian minister and served as finance minister from 2010 to 2013.
When Labour came back to power in 2022, she became Australia’s first Asian foreign minister and recently achieved the record of being Australia’s longest-serving female cabinet minister.
In 2009, he was named one of the “50 Most Beautiful Female Politicians in the World” and was selected as the most reliable politician in Australia in various polls, and is also considered a candidate for the next Australian Prime Minister.
The Australian Parliament passed a bill to legalize same-sex marriage in December 2017. Only four out of 150 lawmakers voted against it at the time.
Australia has recognized same-sex marriage since January 2018, making it the 26th country in the world to be allowed to have same-sex marriage. Minister Wong, who was a senator at the time, also played a leading role in legalizing same-sex marriage.
SALLY LEE
US ASIA JOURNAL
