I am pleased to announce I proposed to my girlfriend, Manja Sommeling, on Valentine’s Day 2013 and she accepted. We’re looking forward to moving into our new home in Hobsons Bay this May and building a life together with our family and friends.

On behalf of Manja and I, I thank the hundreds of people that have congratulated us and sent us their kind wishes. It’s nice being able to celebrate this special occasion with so many people, and we’re thrilled so many people are happy for us.

It comes as a surprise to many people that Manja and I are unable to legally marry in Australia because marriage in this country is only for people who are exclusively male or female and in heterosexual relationships. This means we won’t be able to have a wedding with our family and friends around us which I find extremely disappointing.

There are countries that do have marriage equality (including countries in the Commonwealth) so we are likely to get married in one of them despite Australian law not recognising them yet. We hope marriage equality is a reality in Australia in the near future, but we’re not putting our lives on hold until then.