Anna Shelley Brown (born 1979) is a lawyer and advocate, particularly in the area of LGBTIQ rights. After working for the

Human Rights Law Centre The Human Rights Law Centre (HRLC) is an Australian human rights group, with locations in South Melbourne and Sydney. Activities Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people In April 2019, the HRLC compiled data showing that Indigenous Australi ...

for around seven years, in December 2018 she was appointed chief executive of new

LGBTI Intersex people are born with sex characteristics (such as genitals, gonads, and chromosome patterns) that "do not fit the typical definitions for male or female bodies". They are substantially more likely to identify as lesbian, gay, bisexua ...

advocacy organisation Equality Australia

Early life

Brown was born in 1979 and grew up in suburban

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

before studying politics and law at

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

. 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 with a total of over ...

Career

After a time working in

corporate law Corporate law (also known as company law or enterprise law) is the body of law governing the rights, relations, and conduct of persons, companies, organizations and businesses. The term refers to the legal practice of law relating to corpora ...

with Allens Arthur Robertson, she worked for the

Federal Court of Australia The Federal Court of Australia is an Australian superior court 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 indictable (mo ...

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 The states and territories are the national subdivisions and second level of government of Australia. The states are partially so ...

, 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 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, transgender, queer, and questioning community (LGBTQ+) in the UK and worldwide. It was founded by Benjamin Cohen in July 2005, initially released in print, b ...

, 8 December 2018 Brown was co-chair of the Equality Campaign during the

Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey The Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey was a national survey by the Australian Government designed to gauge support for legalising same-sex marriage in Australia. The survey was held via the Australia Post, postal service between 12 Septe ...

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

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. In this capacity, Brown advocated for trans people to be able to change their sex on their birth certificate, without the certification of a psychologist or physician. Brown also believes that any requirement for parental support before a child undergoes

Gender reassignment Gender is the range of social, psychological, cultural, and behavioral aspects of being a man (or boy), woman (or girl), or third gender. Although gender often corresponds to sex, a transgender person may identify with a gender other than th ...

surgery is, "abhorent."

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 The 2019 Queen's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as p ...

Brown was awarded the

Medal of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of then ...

(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 LGBTQ rights activists Australian LGBTQ lawyers 1979 births Monash University alumni Living people Australian women lawyers Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia 21st-century Australian LGBTQ people