Former Democrats Senator Brian Greig has been awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in the Queen’s birthday honours. Greig has been recognised for his service as a social justice advocate for the gay and lesbian community.
Upon news of the honour, Greig commented,
‘It’s a great honour and has caused me to stop and reflect on my 22 year journey in this area of public life.
‘When I started campaigning on WA law reform in 1989, gay men were threatened with 14 years in prison, with or without whipping. Now my home state has equal ages of consent, anti-discrimination laws, partnership recognition and access to adoption and the Family Court.’
Greig’s political activism started in the 1980’s. While at university he helped re-establish the National Union of Students. After a period of time working as a staff member for a number of Labor politicians, Greig joined the Australian Democrats. He was elected to the Town of Vincent council in 1995 and in 1999 successfully stood for the Australian senate.
In his maiden parliamentary speech Greig declared his homosexuality, the first time a member of the Australian parliament had done so. Greig stood unsuccessfully for a second term in the senate in 2004.
Looking towards the future of the gay rights movement in Australia Greig commented,
‘Federally, we have partnership rights in areas like superannuation, immigration and Centrelink entitlements and there’s finally a national discussion happening around equal marriage. There is still more to be done but many laws have changed, and so have community attitudes, which is more important.’
Graeme Watson
