Australian leaders plan vote on same-sex marriage

SYDNEY — Australia’s governing Liberal Party met for hours behind closed doors Tuesday to debate same-sex marriage, twisting itself in knots and ending up with a two-step approach:

If the Senate does not open the polls for a compulsory national vote, party officials said, then Australians will be invited to cast voluntary ballots on the issue by mail as early as September.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, speaking at a news conference after the discussions, said that holding a postal vote if the Senate rejected an in-person one would give people the opportunity to “have their say,” though neither vote would be legally binding.

While other countries have decided on same-sex marriage in the courts or in parliament, lawmakers in Australia have spent months bickering about mechanisms.

Several Liberal Party lawmakers have expressed exasperation with the handful of colleagues, including former Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who have resisted a simple vote in Parliament.