LGBTIQ+ advocates recognised in Queen’s Birthday Honours
A number of LGBTIQ+ advocates have been acknowledged in this year’s Queen’s Birthday Honours for their work on advancing the rights of LGBTIQ+ communities in Australia.
Queen Elizabeth II established the Order of Australia in 1975, before which Australian citizens received British honours.
This year co-founder of just.equal Ivan Hinton-Teoh was given a Medal in the Order of Australia for his contribution to equality and the LGBTIQ+ community.
Hinton-Teoh is the former deputy director of Australian Marriage Equality and a long-time board member of PFLAG.
Spokesperson for just.equal, Rodney Croome, congratulated Hinton-Teoh for the feat.
“Ivan’s innovative and effective activism has helped drive LGBTIQ+ law reform and social change at a local and national level,” he said.
“During the marriage equality campaign Ivan worked eighteen hour days, seven days a week. He would often stay up past midnight to develop social media responses for the next day and then be on the radio from 5am delivering the marriage equality message.
“He lived and breathed the issue at a substantial cost to his husband, family and friends.
“Ivan’s passion, dedication, and sheer grit make him a model for other human rights advocates.”
Chief Executive of Equality Australia, Anna Brown, was also awarded an Order of Australia for her service to human rights and the LGBTIQ+ community.
Prior to commencing her role as CEO of Equality Australia, Brown was Director of Legal Advocacy at the Human Rights Law Centre’s LGBTIQ+ Unit, playing a leading role in the High Court challenge to the postal survey and the test case for trans rights, as well as strategic litigation to advance marriage equality.
Brown’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.
Chair of the Equality Australia Board, Bruce Meagher, congratulated Brown.
“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,” he said.
Other LGBTIQ+ community advocates recognised with an Order of Australia this year include Victorian LGBTI Taskforce member Jamie Gardiner, Pride Foundation Australia’s Board Chair and Associate Professor Ruth McNair, and The Pinnacle Foundation co-founder Sean Linkson.