More than 30 leaders from the LGBTI community today met with the Australian Attorney-General George Brandis in a meeting facilitated by Australian Marriage Equality (AME) and Australians for Equality (A4E).

“We are proud that we have been able to facilitate these meetings about marriage equality and provide an opportunity for a wide range of LGBTI groups to meet directly with the Australian Attorney-General,” said Alex Greenwich, Co-Chair, Australian Marriage Equality.

“Regardless of the pathway, we will continue to unite Australians from all walks of life and work constructively with all political parties to achieve our goal of marriage equality for all.

“We will continue to lead the engagement with politicians across the aisle and continue to build on our coalition of unified supporters across the nation.

“This is the first time an Australian Attorney-General has met with such a large group of LGBTI organisations on the topic of marriage equality. We have worked hard to ensure the community has the opportunity to hear directly about the proposals being put forward,” Mr Greenwich said.

Executive Director of Australians for Equality, Tiernan Brady said, “We have made it clear that marriage equality should be achieved by a vote in the parliament.

“If a plebiscite does not happen, the impact of inequality does not go away nor does the debate about our status in society. What is critical now is that supporters in the parliament find a pathway forward without delay.

“This meeting was an opportunity for the Attorney-General to hear directly from a wide range of organisations about their views on the pathway to marriage equality, and we thank the Attorney-General for agreeing to meet so many organisations, many of whom who have not had direct consultation with him.

“This is an important opportunity to also have a discussion with other organisations across the LGBTI community on how we can work together to achieve marriage equality in this term of parliament,” Mr Brady said.

To ensure as many LGBTI groups are able to engage political leaders across the nation, A4E and AME have facilitated a community meeting tomorrow with the Shadow Attorney-General, Mark Dreyfus.

“With Parliament sitting next week we are hopeful that a clear path to marriage equality will be realised alleviating some of the stress and frustration the community and the nation have been experiencing,’ Mr Greenwich concluded.
Clint McGilvray