Equality Australia are thrilled to announce that CEO Anna Brown has been awarded an Order of Australia for her service to human rights and to the LGBTIQ community

Chair of the Equality Australia Board, Bruce Meagher, congratulated Ms Brown, saying: “This award is well-deserved recognition for a person who has been at the forefront of nearly every major reform for LGBTIQ people in Australia in recent years.”

Prior to commencing as Equality Australia’s CEO, Anna was the Director, Legal Advocacy of the Human Rights Law Centre’s LGBTIQ Unit, playing a leading role in the High Court challenge to the postal survey (M106) and the test case for transgender rights (Re Kelvin), as well strategic litigation to advance marriage equality (Cth v ACT) and recognise sex and gender diversity (Norrie’s case).

Anna’s advocacy was pivotal in securing federal LGBTI discrimination protections in 2013 and laws across Australia to erase historical convictions for homosexual offences for gay and bisexual men. She was also a tireless advocate for gay refugee couple Ashkan and Nima during their detention on Nauru, a driving force behind the Victoria Police apology for the Tasty nightclub raid and national spokesperson for the ground-breaking No to Homophobia campaign.

Anna also played a critical role in the successful national campaign for marriage equality as Co-Chair of the Equality Campaign, and currently serves as a member of the Victorian Government’s LGBTI Taskforce and Co-Chair of the LGBTI Justice Working Group. Anna’s work has previously been recognised in her being named Victorian GLBTI person of the year in the inaugural GLOBE community awards in November 2014, as a finalist for the Tony Fitzgerald Community Award in the 2014 Australian Human Rights Awards, as a finalist for Victorian Australian of the Year in 2015 and in being awarded the Tim McCoy Award in 2015