Sally Rugg is a Melbourne-based LGBTIQ activist,

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

and political staffer. Rugg was the GetUp creative and campaigns director between 2013 – 2018. Rugg was one of the many public faces of the "YES" campaign in the Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey and also campaigns for Safe Schools. As of 2022, Rugg is the Chief of Staff for Independent Member of Parliament,

Monique Ryan Monique Marie Ryan (born 20 January 1967) is an Australian paediatric neurologist and politician. She is currently the member of parliament for the federal seat of Kooyong after defeating Josh Frydenberg at the 2022 Australian federal election. ...

Early life

During her early years Rugg volunteered to work with disadvantaged youth. She then started working at the organisation GetUp, while doing her master's degree in Arts. She attended events in the ACT when

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same Legal sex and gender, sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being ...

was made legal for six days, which she says informed her views.

Awards and recognition

Rugg has won numerous awards due to her campaigning for the YES same-sex marriage vote. There is a room named after Rugg in

Oxford Street, Sydney Oxford Street is a major thoroughfare in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, running from Whitlam Square on the south-east corner of Hyde Park in the central business district (CBD) of Sydney to Bondi Junction in the Eastern Suburbs. Close to ...

named "The Sally Rugg LGBTIQ Pride Room". In 2018, Rugg was awarded the FBi Radio SMAC of the Year award for her work on the YES same-sex marriage campaign and Strayan of the Year by Pedestrian.tv, for her efforts in the YES campaign. and was a finalist for Hero of the Year at the Australian LGBTI Awards. In 2017, Sally was named among

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’s 5 Women of The Year, by

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magazine as one of Australia’s Most Influential LGBTIQ people, ranked first in

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’s Most Powerful LGBTIQ Women list, by

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

’s Top 15 Women Championing Human Rights In Australia. Sally was awarded the Young Achiever Award at the 2016 Honour Awards. Rugg was a finalist for the Honour Awards Young Achiever Award in 2015, was named among the 23 LGBT Australians to Watch in 2016 by SX Magazine and the Top 40 Under Forty by TimeOut, and won the New South Wales Honour Awards Young Achiever Award in 2016.

Personal life

Rugg self-identifies as gay. She lives in Melbourne and is engaged to comedian Kate McCartney.

Writing

Rugg writes regularly on activism and feminism, as well as LGBTIQ and human rights. Rugg's work has been published in media including ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'', ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', Vice, Pedestrian as well as Junkee. Rugg was a contributing author for books including ''The Full Catastrophe'', (2019) as well as ''Growing Up Queer in Australia'', (2019). Her first book, ''How Powerful We Are: Behind the scenes with one of Australia's leading activists'', is her narrative about legalizing same-sex marriage.

Dispute with Monique Ryan

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rugg, Sally Australian LGBT rights activists Living people Australian women activists Australian women writers Australian writers Women civil rights activists 1988 births