Australian Marriage Equality
Australian Marriage Equality (AME) was an advocacy group driven by volunteers who came together to pursue the legalisation of same-sex marriage in Australia. AME partnered with a diverse range of organisations and supporters across the country to end the exclusion of same-sex LGBTIQ couples from marriage in Australia. It was the pre-eminent group campaigning for same-sex marriage in Australia.
AME was founded in 2004 prior to the Federal Parliament's passage of a bill amending the Marriage Act 1961 to rule out the legal recognition of marriages between same-sex couples.
There was a postal poll on the issue of same-sex marriage from September to November 2017. Australian Marriage Equality, with Senator Janet Rice, lodged a High Court Challenge to the constitutional validity of this postal survey, which was heard in September. The High Court ruled the survey could proceed despite Australian Marriage Equality's challenge.