The Australian Equality Party (Marriage) (also AEP; formerly Australian Equality Party) was an Australian political party founded by Jason Tuazon-McCheyne. The AEP had a platform that promoted equality and human rights, particularly in relation to the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, intersex and

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are not heterosexual or cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against those with same-sex desires or relationships in the late 19th century. Beginning in the lat ...

(GLBTIQ) community. The party's goal was to get AEP Leader, Jason Tuazon-McCheyne, elected to the Senate at the 2016 Federal Election. The party was deregistered voluntarily on 26 March 2018.

History

The Australian Equality Party was launched on 2 February 2014 by Jason Tuazon-McCheyne and his team at Melbourne's LGBTIQ Pride March in St Kilda. At that time the AEP released its first suite of policies relating to LGBTIQ people at the parade, including marriage equality, health and wellbeing issues for LGBTIQ people and reform for laws regarding LGBTIQ people's rights to adoption. The AEP was registered with the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) on 9 October 2014. The Convenor of the AEP is Jason Tuazon-McCheyne."Jason Tuazon-McCheyne launches Australian Equality Party"
''The Sydney Morning Herald''. February 3, 2014 Chris Hingston On 27 January 2016, the AEC approved a name change to append the word "Marriage" to the party's official name.
AEC, 27 January 2016. In 2014 the AEP was only active in Victoria, focusing on gathering support for its campaign to elect its leader Jason Tuazon-McCheyne as a Senator for the state of Victoria at the 2016 federal election. In the 2016 federal election AEP fielded two

senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

candidates in each of Queensland, South Australia and Victoria, and three candidates in Victoria for the House of Representatives. None of these candidates were elected. The party received 0.87%, 0.38% and 0.49% of first preference votes in the three states it contested for Senate seats and 1.59% of first preference votes in its highest-polling House seat, Melbourne Ports.

Leadership

The leader of the AEP is Jason Tuazon-McCheyne, who works as a

civil celebrant In Australia, celebrants are people who conduct formal ceremonies in the community, particularly weddings, which are the main ceremony of legal import conducted by celebrants and for this reason often referred to as marriage celebrants. They ma ...

in the state of Victoria. Tuazon-McCheyne is married to his husband Adrian. They have a son and live in Melbourne's north west. Deputy Leader Jacqueline Tomlins is a writer, campaigner and activist and has been involved in a variety of LGBTIQ related campaigns, particularly around marriage equality and a legal challenge in the

High Court of Australia The High Court of Australia is Australia's apex court. It exercises Original jurisdiction, original and appellate jurisdiction on matters specified within Constitution of Australia, Australia's Constitution. The High Court was established fol ...

to a ban on recognition of overseas same-sex marriages in Australia.

References

{{Defunct Australian political parties Defunct political parties in Australia Political parties established in 2014 2014 establishments in Australia Political parties disestablished in 2018 2018 disestablishments in Australia LGBT political parties