'Eat sh*t Lyle' is trending worldwide and it's for the most satisfying reason

The words ‘Eat Shit Lyle’ are trending globally on Twitter - and it’s all because of the brilliant news that Australia has just voted to officially legalise same-sex marriage.

This morning, Australian parliament passed a bill almost unanimously to allow two people of the same sex to get married, and there have been huge celebrations across the country.

But one man who is not celebrating? Lyle Shelton. You probably won’t have heard that name before unless you’ve been following the Australian same-sex marriage debate closely, but Shelton is the managing director of the Australian Christian Lobby, and has been one of the most vocal opponents of the legalisation.

As such, now that the bill is past - a bill which is sure to be followed by a swathe of gay and lesbian marriages across Australia - people are telling Lyle to go and eat some shit.

Those are just a snippet of the many, many, many tweets out there telling Lyle Shelton to eat shit. If they’re you’re jam, you can click here and find thousands and thousands more. Hey, you can even join in yourself. It’s good, wholesome fun, and if enough people tell him to do it, maybe he’ll have to, right?

In the run up to the vote, Shelton claimed that the “freedom of speech of five million Australians” would be “wiped out” if the country voted to legalise same-sex marriage.

Thankfully, most people didn’t listen to him. Only four MPs voted against the legislation, making Australia one of 24 countries worldwide where people of the same sex are free to marry each other.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told the house: “Australia has done it - every Australian had their say, and they said ‘it’s fair, get on with it’.

“We’ve voted today for equality, for love, it’s time for more marriages, more commitment, more love, more respect. This is Australia: fair, diverse, loving and filled with respect.”

For the thousands of same-sex Australian couple who have already married in countries such as the UK and New Zealand, their marriages will become official in their home country once the bill has royal assent in mid-December.

Those wishing to marry will have to wait until the new year, once the 28-day notice period is over.

What’s that, you want a few more ‘Eat shit Lyle’ tweets? Oh, go on then…