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Despite their pivotal roles in Australia鈥檚 marriage equality campaign, figures such as RODNEY CROOME AM, SHELLEY ARGENT OAM, IVAN HINTON-TEOH OAM and others have been whitewashed out of the narrative by overblown egos, corporate considerations and political party spin. Two years since Australia gained marriage equality, here is the truth about the campaign鈥攁nd why it matters.

By PETER FURNESS.听

The passage of two years since the same-sex marriage postal survey has done听little to diminish the bitterness and pain it inflicted.

We would do well to remember how it came about.

Considerable effort has been made to portray Australian Marriage听Equality (AME) and the Equality Campaign as having been strongly opposed to the听holding of that national vote. That is, however, an听oversimplification.

A plebiscite was originally a demand from the Australian Christian Lobby,听proposed as a desperate, last ditch attempt to block or delay what even they听could see was becoming inevitable.

At first opposed by Malcolm Turnbull, his position changed on becoming prime听minister in late 2015 and, at around the same time, AME found itself being offered,听and accepting, truck loads of cash to fight a听plebiscite campaign from the听multi-millionaire Tom Snow, a frequently declared friend of the new PM.

The problem for AME chair and state MP Alex Greenwich, keen as ever to be听seen as the primary champion of marriage equality, was that the LGBTI community听itself, for very good reasons, was unlikely to听support such a poll.

To maintain control over his contribution, Snow established Australians听4 Equality as a separate vehicle and hired Tiernan Brady from the Irish听Yes constitutional referendum campaign as its executive director.

Brady had previously been an elected official for the centre-right Irish听political party, Fianna F谩il, and was recruited for the听Australian campaign by former Institute for Public Affairs director, Tim听Wilson.

Snow and Greenwich then undertook a process of amalgamating AME and听Australians 4 Equality under the banner of the Equality Campaign.

Herein lies the cause of the split from AME by a number of its key听activists including its founder, Rodney Croome AM, Australia鈥檚 best known听LGBTI activist, along with long-term advocate Shelley Argent OAM,听who were steadfastly听opposed to a plebiscite, refused to toe the party line that it was听inevitable, and insisted a free vote in Parliament was the only legitimate听way forward.

Argent told an ABC reporter: “Somebody said to me, it’s better to听wait than to be walking over bodies as you walk down the aisle, and I think听that’s very true.鈥�

Croome gave examples of young gay lives lost to suicide during the听divisive decriminalisation debate in Tasmania in the 1990s that he feared would听be even worse during a nationwide hate-mongering听plebiscite.

Croome and Argent proved to be right. The double dissolution election of听July 2016 delivered a Senate able to block the enabling legislation later that听year, to the enormous relief of the larger LGBTI community.

After a second rebuff by senators, and with Turnbull still determined to听placate his party鈥檚 right wing, a plan to bypass the Senate emerged which听involved a postal survey run by the ABS, instead of a compulsory听attendance听plebiscite conducted by the Australian Electoral Commission.

Croome helped establish a new organisation, just.equal, with a former听AME deputy director, Ivan Hinton-Teoh, which worked with Argent, Felicity听Marlowe from Rainbow Families Victoria and the Independent听MP for Denison,听Andrew Wilkie, to successfully gain leave from the High Court to challenge the听postal survey.

Unwilling to be seen as less than enthusiastic opponents, AME and the听Equality Campaign subsequently and hurriedly organised their own appeal,听resulting in the unedifying spectacle of two separate High Court听challenges.

The fight for marriage equality actually began around 15 years earlier.

Pivotal was the legal challenge of two Australian couples in 2004 who听had married in Canada the previous year, Sarah and Jacqui Tomlins, and Jason听and Adrian Tuazon McCheyne, who sought to have their听marriages recognised by听having the Family Court agree to consider their case.

There was the success in Tasmania with the first state civil听partnership scheme for same-sex couples, introduced simultaneously, almost听to the day, with a partnership register I introduced on South Sydney听Council听whilst deputy mayor.

I recall the first public rally in 2004, jointly organised with听Community Action Against Homophobia, to protest the Howard Government鈥檚听amendments to the Marriage Act which would unambiguously define听marriage as听being only between a man and a woman.

Many rallies would follow, all over the country, including the large and听notable march from Sydney鈥檚 CBD to the ALP national conference at Darling听Harbour in 2011.

A successful campaign to have the national census count same-sex听marriages for the first time, initiated by a good old-fashioned sit-in at ABS听offices followed by many months of meetings and correspondence,听gave a good听morale boost. (I was, at first, amused when Greenwich used to claim this听achievement as his own because he played no part in it at all.)

In 2006, the ACT established Australia鈥檚 first civil unions scheme, only听to have it overturned by the Federal Government.

In 2012 Tasmania pioneered state same-sex marriages, which in 2013 were听passed in the ACT but then overturned.

All these efforts, and many far too numerous to list here, kept the听issue constantly before the public, causing millions of conversations in homes,听pubs and workplaces and pushed public support for marriage听equality from less听than 40 per cent in 2004 to 72 per cent in 2012.

Of note, the postal survey only returned 61.6 per cent in favour, with the听disingenuous 鈥榬eligious freedom鈥� battle cry of opponents going largely听unchallenged during the long campaign, leaving us an ongoing tussle with听the听government over this very question two years on.

Historical re-writes (propaganda), like the documentary Australia Says听Yes broadcast on SBS this time last year, all but entirely whitewashed people听like Croome, Argent and Hinton-Teoh, among others, out of听the marriage equality听narrative, and furiously attempted to paint AME and the Equality Campaign as being听always strongly opposed to a national poll.

An accurate account of the long struggle, however, helps to expose the听pernicious influence of the major parties on the LGBTI community, in听particular, the extraordinary steps taken by Labor to thwart the听campaign in听the beginning, and, at the end, the Liberal Party鈥檚 ability to use, for want of听a better description, moneyed, gay, 鈥榤oderate鈥� Liberals to achieve its goals at听the direct expense of the LGBTI community.

An unbiased analysis helps to explain the complex reasons why the Labor听and Liberal parties, and many within them, were so incapable of resolving this听issue, long after countries we might have thought less听likely had done so, such听as Argentina, Spain or South Africa.

It helps reveal how moribund our politics has become and what may be听required to deal with other pressing and important issues we face.

It is of value to understand how ordinary human frailties, like听excessive personal ambition and ego, played their part in allowing that vote听and delivering, after all, the worst same-sex marriage legislation adopted听by听any country.

It is most disheartening to so often hear, loud and clear, through such re-writes,听the underlying message that change is ultimately made by the well-off and听well-connected. It is most certainly untrue.

This change, and many other human rights victories before it, was听achieved by innumerable courageous, ordinary people who took very real risks听and made enormous sacrifices without ever an expectation of听recognition.

I am aware of struggles elsewhere鈥攊n places like Bangladesh or Uganda,听for example, where the barriers to progress are unimaginably more difficult and听dangerous鈥攂eing undertaken by incredibly brave听people despite a lack of听money, support, or, in many cases, only rudimentary education. But with enormous听dignity.

I have found the rich, famous and ambitious, who appear only when it is听safe to do so, do a terrible disservice in their race for the limelight to听those who want to know how change really occurs, and to those who听seek听inspiration from the knowledge that they are neither helpless nor incapable of听effecting change.

Historical accuracy is important.

Peter Furness, a former deputy mayor of South Sydney, was a founding member of Australian Marriage Equality and its National Convenor from 2005 to 2011.