Anna Shelley Brown (born 1979) is a lawyer and advocate, particularly in the area of

LGBTIQ rights Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality. Notably, , 33 ...

. After working for the Human Rights Law Centre for around seven years, in December 2018 she was appointed chief executive of new LGBTI advocacy organisation Equality Australia.

Early life

Brown was born in 1979 and grew up in suburban

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

before studying politics and law at

Monash University Monash University () is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Named for prominent World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. The university has a ...

. She became president of the Law Students' Society, and played in the '

Victorian Women's Football League The Victorian Women's Football League (VWFL) was the oldest and largest Australian rules football league for women in the world, consisting of 47 clubs from Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, across seven divisions and a total of ove ...

Career

After a time working in corporate law with Allens Arthur Robertson, she worked for the

Federal Court of Australia The Federal Court of Australia is an Australian superior court of record which has jurisdiction to deal with most civil disputes governed by federal law (with the exception of family law matters), along with some summary (less serious) and indic ...

as a Judge's Associate to Justice Steven Rares.Anna Brown, Director for Advocacy and Strategic Litigation, Human Rights Law Centre

Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission The Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission is a statutory authority in the Australian state of Victoria. It replaced the Equal Opportunity Board , set up by Victorian Premier Dick Hamer Sir Rupert James Hamer, (29 July ...

, 10 February 2016 She has also been an adviser to former Victorian Attorney-General and Deputy Premier,

Rob Hulls Rob Justin Hulls (born 23 January 1957) is a former Australian politician who was a member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly from 1996 to 2012, representing the electorate of Niddrie. As well as serving as the Deputy Premier of Victoria, ...

. She campaigned hard for an apology to the gay community for the

Tasty nightclub raid The Tasty nightclub raid was an incident on 7 August 1994 during which 463 mostly LGBTIQ+ patrons of the Tasty nightclub event in Melbourne, Australia were detained for seven hours, strip searched and cavity searched by members of Victoria Pol ...

of 1994, which eventually came in 2014. She joined the Human Rights Law Centre (HRLC) in 2011, and has led much of its work on LGBTI rights, marriage equality, gender recognition, and equality law reform, including an amicus curiae intervention in the case of Norrie May Welby in the High Court.Anna Brown
Australian Women's Archives Project, 18 August 2016 Until December 2018, she was Director of Legal Advocacy at HRLC.

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

, 8 December 2018New Australian LGBT group launches to fight for equality

Pink News ''PinkNews'' is a UK-based online newspaper marketed to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community (LGBT) in the UK and worldwide. It was founded by Benjamin Cohen in 2005. It closely follows political progress on LGBT rights aro ...

, 8 December 2018 Brown was co-chair of the Equality Campaign during the Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey in 2017. Brown ran a constitutional challenge in the High Court on the marriage plebiscite, on behalf of Australian Marriage Equality. She has previously held the position of Co-Convener of the Victorian Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby. In December 2018 Brown she was appointed inaugural chief executive of new LGBTI advocacy organisation Equality Australia. She has spoken of a need for a national Bill of Rights or Human Rights Act. in 2018 and 2019 she held the position of co-chair of the Justice Working Group of the Victorian Government's LGBTI Taskforce.

Recognition

Brown was named Victorian GLBTI person of the year in November 2014, in the first GLOBE community awards. She was also a finalist for the Tony Fitzgerald Community Award in the 2014 Australian Human Rights Awards, a finalist in Victorian Australian of the Year in 2015 and winner of the Tim McCoy Award in 2015.Anna Brown
The Wheeler Centre In the 2019 Queen's Birthday Honours Brown was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for "service to human rights, and to the LGBTIQ community". In October 2019 she was named winner of the Social Enterprise and Not-for-profit category in ''The Australian Financial Review's'' 100 Women of Influence awards.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Anna 21st-century Australian lawyers Australian LGBT rights activists Australian LGBT lawyers 1979 births Monash University alumni Living people Australian women lawyers Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia 21st-century Australian LGBT people