One of the key moments in 2011 was the endorsement of gay marriage by the ALP at its national conference. And it was a feat largely attributable to the work of Rainbow Labor. Sed Crest offers an insight into how it all happened. 

Some may argue with the title of this column, but if we take a breath, look backwards and consider the changes that have taken place over 2011, I think we can mark it as a significant year of progress for the LGBTI community.

Federal Finance Minister Penny Wong and her partner Sophie Allouache are getting used to life as new parents, after announcing overnight that Allouache gave birth to a baby girl in Adelaide on Sunday, just a week after Wong had led calls for the Labor Party to give its backing to marriage equality.

The Federal Government has today finally removed its ban on issuing Certificates of No Impediment to marriage (CNI) to same-sex couples wanting to marry overseas, two years after a Senate inquiry recommended the move and only a few months after Prime Minister Julia Gillard claimed that it would take an amendment to the Marriage Act for any change to occur.

HOBART: Tasmania’s Greens leader Nick McKim yesterday signalled that he will push for a state-based same-sex marriage framework by introducing already-tabled Bills into the Tasmanian Parliament next year, on the grounds that a conscience vote in Federal Parliament on the issue “is doomed to fail”.

ANALYSIS: LGBTI rights advocate and Australian Marriage Equality Campaign Director Rodney Croome on how we move forward with gay marriage movement with a Labor conscience vote.

A conscience vote was the best outcome marriage equality advocates could've hoped for at Labor's National Conference, and it's certainly a historic and significant development. But the position the ALP now finds itself in as a result of trying to displease as few factions as possible is quite bizarre.

SYDNEY: On a sunny day where it was said “all the colours of the rainbow” had turned out, over 10,000 people from all walks of life took part in what was the nation’s largest ever rally in support of marriage equality.

Marriage equality advocates have reacted angrily to the Labor Party’s decision today to back a parliamentary conscience vote on the issue, with the likes of Australian Marriage Equality convener Alex Greenwich saying that the fight will continue.

The Australian Greens have announced they will reintroduce their marriage equality bill into both houses of parliament when sittings resume next year.

The Australian Labor Party has voted to amend its policy platform in support of marriage equality. 

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has opened today’s ALP National Conference in Sydney with no mention of gay marriage despite senior Labor MPs suggesting that the party will be changing its platform to back marriage equality over the next few days.

With just one day left before the ALP National Conference in Sydney, Prime Minister Julia Gillard has sought the help of senior Labor figures to avoid a humiliating defeat on the issue of marriage equality, with party delegates on the brink of forcing a policy platform change that will extend marriage rights to the LGBTI community.

ACT Deputy Leader Andrew Barr today echoed the words of famed US civil rights leader Martin Luther King after calling on his Labor Party colleagues to change the party’s policy platform in favour of marriage equality so that they may “make a career of humanity” and “commit ... to the noble struggle for equal rights”.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard yesterday used part of her day to personally appeal to a number of undecided Labor MPs and delegates from the party’s Right faction ahead of the expected showdown over the issue of marriage equality at this Friday’s ALP National Conference.