2011 showed that the momentum for marriage equality is unstoppable:
- Repeated polls showed a strong majority of Australians, including people of faith, support reform;
- The personal stories of gay and lesbian Australians and their friends and relatives, including Senator Penny Wong, Professor Kerryn Phelps, David Pocock and David Foster, continued to play a key role in changing hearts and minds;
- A large number of businesses, unions, and non-government organisations supported marriage equality;
- The Census counted same-sex marriages for the first time;
- The Tasmanian and ACT parliaments endorsed the principle of marriage equality;
- All but one state Labor conference and state Labor leader supported marriage equality and at the very end of the year the entire Labor Party went from opposing to supporting equality in its national platform.
The following key marriage equality moments show how the year unfolded
Feb 9: Tanya Plibersek’s poll of her Sydney electorate finds 89% support for marriage equality.
Feb 14: AME and GetUp launch a TV ad featuring twins, Paul and David, one gay, one straight.
Feb 16: Openly-gay SA state Labor MP, Ian Hunter, announces co-sponsorship of SA Ian Hunter state same-sex marriage laws with Green MP, Tammy Franks. He likens marriage inequality to the White Australia Policy.
Feb 22: David Jones becomes the latest major Australian employer to recognise the same-sex marriages of its employees.
Feb 25: Prof George Williams re-affirms his belief that Australian states can legislate for same-sex marriage.
Mar 5: The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras is dominated by the issue of marriage equality with fifteen floats highlighting the need for the reform.
Mar 20: Australia shakes its head in disbelief when Julia Gillard cites “Australia’s religious heritage” and her “traditional upbringing” to justify her opposition to marriage equality.
Apr 9: Victorian Labor leader, Daniel Andrews, declares support for marriage equality, joining Queensland Premier, Anna Bligh and Tasmanian Premier, Lara Giddings.
Apr 12: The Australian Services Union supports marriage equality.
Apr 13: Malcolm Turnbull releases the results of his electorate survey on marriage equality which shows 72% support for reform.
Apr 17: Qld Liberal-National leader, Campbell Newman, declares support for marriage equality.
Apr 25: Australian Christian Lobby chief, Jim Wallace, condemned widely for ANZAC Day gay marriage slur.
Apr 28: A marriage equality forum in Hobart convened by federal indepdendent, Andrew Wilkie, draws 400 people.
Apr 29: AME and GetUp sponsor the live outside broadcast of the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.
May 3: The Australian Human Rights Commission releases report saying marriage discrimination violates Australia’s human rights obligation.
May 27: Labor Women support marriage equality as does ACT Chief Minister, Katy Gallagher.
Jun 8: A national poll shows 75% of Australians think marriage equality is inevitable.
Jun 14: Federal independent, Andrew Wilkie, questions Julia Gillard in parliament about barriers to same-sex couples marrying overseas.
Jun 15: AME and GetUp win charity auction of dinner with Julia Gillard and the federal independents.
Jun 19: Qld state Labor conference supports marriage equality.
Jun 20: WA Labor leader, Eric Ripper, declares support for marriage equality.
Jun 25: New York state becomes the seventh US jurisdiction to enact marriage equality, with the support of key Republicans.
Jun 25: WA state Labor Conference supports marriage equality.
Jun 30: NSW Labor leader, John Robertson, declares support for marriage equality.
Jul 5: Celebrity gay farmer, Dave Graham, finds love and gets engaged.
Jul 14: Kevin Rudd’s sister, Loree Rudd, condemned for “gay Gestapo” comment against marriage equality. She later resigns from the ALP.
Jul 22: Same-sex couples begin marrying in New York raising concerns that the Australian Government’s barriers to overseas same-sex marriages will stop Australians marrying in NY.
Jul 27: Attorney-General, Robert McClelland, hears from parents of gays and lesbians about the need for marriage equality at Brisbane lunch.
Jul 28: A marriage equality debate in Launceston goes ahead without any acrimony despite the withdrawal of high-profile opponents of equality who ‘feared for their safety’.
Jul 30: ACT Labor conference supports marriage equality and rejects civil unions as a substitute.
Aug 2: A Roy Morgan poll shows 68% support for marriage equality.
Aug 2: Qld Liberal MP, Teresa Gambaro, finds 73% support for marriage equality in her electorate.
Aug 4: The American Psychological Association supports marriage equality.
Aug 7: The Tasmanian State Labor Conference overwhelmingly supports marriage equality, for the second time in three years. The Conference also rejects civil unions as a substitute for full equality.
Aug 9: The Australian Census counts same-sex marriages for the first time.
Aug 10: Incoming SA Labor leader, Jay Weatherill, joins other state Labor leaders in supporting marriage equality.
Aug 13: The National Day of Action on Marriage Equality draws thousands to rallies across Australia.
Aug 16: A national poll shows 53% of Australian Christians support marriage equality.
Aug 22: Carl Katter, the gay half-brother of North Queensland MP, Bob Katter, declares Bob’s vitriolic opposition to marriage equality “dangerous”.
Aug 23: In an Australian-first, Julia Gillard meets marriage equality advocates to discuss the reform, including Prof Kerryn Phelps and Jacki Stricker-Phelps, psychologist Paul Martin, PFLAG national spokesperson, Shelley Argent and AME campaign director, Rodney Croome.
Aug 24: After receiving over 100,000 emails in support of marriage equality, federal MPs report back to Parliament about levels of support for marriage equality in their electorates.
Sep 9: The Commitment Project is launched in Sydney with billboards featuring committed same-sex couples.
Sep 10: World champion Tasmanian axeman, David Foster, declares his support for marriage equality.
Sep 12: Seventy Mt Isa residents, led by marriage equality advocate, James Newburrie, protest outside the office of anti-equality MP, Bob Katter.
Sep 15: The popular Potential Wedding Album is re-launched.
Sep 19: The Tasmanian Parliament gives in-principle support for marriage equality. Tasmanian Greens Leader, Nick McKim, vows to bring his state same-sex marriage laws on for debate if federal parliament fails to enact marriage equality in 2012.
Sep 25: Young Labor endorses marriage equality.
Sep 30: An AME ad demonstrating the high level of public support for marriage equality is released and quickly becomes one of the most watched Australian clips on YouTube.
Oct 8: Wallabies rugby star and committed Christian, David Pocock, declares his support for marriage equality saying he will not legally marry until his gay friends can.
Oct 9: The Victorian State Labor Conference supports marriage equality for the second time in two years. SA Labor Premier, Mike Rann, backs marriage equality.
Oct 10: SA Coalition leader, Isabel Redmond, backs a conscience vote on marriage equality.
Oct 13: Sixty marriage equality advocates from around Australia descend on Parliament House, Canberra, to lobby their local MPs.
Oct 19: Australia’s Community Legal Centres back marriage equality at their National Conference.
Oct 21: National poll shows that Labor could gain a 7.3% swing by supporting marriage equality.
Oct 26: NSW Liberal Premier, Barry O’Farrell, supports conscience vote on marriage equality.
Nov 1: Three federal independent MPs hear the case for marriage equality over dinner with supporters of equality from their electorates.
Nov 7: The City of Sydney calls on federal government to support marriage equality.
Nov 9: The Australian Women’s Weekly publishes an article about the New York marriage of Prof Kerryn Phelps and Jacki Stricker-Phelps.
Nov 16: The ACT Legislative Assembly passes a motion in support of marriage equality, and assures churches they will not have to marry same-sex couples.
Nov 16: High-profile Australian, Stuart Diver, supports marriage equality.
Nov 19: Openly-gay federal minister, Senator Penny Wong, explains why she supports marriage equality in a moving article.
Nov 21: Federal independent, Andrew Wilkie, announces a motion to reassure churches they will not have to marry same-sex couples when marriage equality is achieved.
Nov 25: Angela Borella, the lesbian sister of former Tasmanian premier, David Bartlett, goes public about the Australian Government blocking her marriage in Portugal.
Nov 25: Director of Human Rights Watch, Boris Dittrich, writes to ALP National Conference delegates to say “the world is watching”.
Nov 26: GetUp ad – ‘Love story’ – portraying the relationship of two men from their meeting to their marriage proposal, is launched. It quickly becomes the most watched marriage equality ad in history.
Nov 29: Powerful right-wing union, National Union of Workers, joins other unions in supporting marriage equality.
Dec 1: The Qld Parliament passes civil union legislation.
Dec 2: A petition of over 140,000 marriage equality supporters presented to ALP National Conference.
Dec 3: The ALP National Conference changes its national platform to support marriage equality but allows Labor MPs a conscience vote.
Dec 4: The ALP National Conference agrees to remove bureaucratic barriers to Australian same-sex couples marrying overseas.
Dec 5: A national poll show 80% of Australians want the Coalition to have a conscience vote on marriage equality, with support also coming from senior Coalition figures such as Malcolm Turnbull and Barnarby Joyce.
Dec 8: The ACT Government re-introduces civil union legislation.
Dec 13: Stephanie Bolt, the lesbian sister of conservative columnist and anti-equality advocate, Andrew Bolt, comes out in support of marriage equality.
Dec 22: The Australian Psychological Society endorses marriage equality.