Australian same-sex marriage campaigners have wasted no time in pushing the cause with new Prime Minister Julia Gillard.
Gillard yesterday became Australia's first female Prime Minister, after toppling Kevin Rudd in a leadership challenge.
Alex Greenwich from Australian Marriage Equality has written her a letter asking for a meeting.
He says the group would like to discuss ways forward, to allow same-sex partners to marry, and the recognition of same-sex marriages performed overseas.
Greenwich says 85 percent of gay and lesbian Australians, 64 percent of Labor voters, and 60 percent of all Australians support marriage equality and a majority of same-sex partners would marry if they could.
Australian Coalition for Equality spokesman Corey Irlam says the group welcomes the opportunity to work with Gillard.
"We understand that Ms Gillard has a history of quiet support for GLBT issues, that too often did not seem to be shared by the former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd," he says.
Irlam says while it was the Rudd-led government which reformed 85 areas of discrimination faced by same-sex couples, the Labor Party's legislative reform agenda seems to have stagnated recently.
He says Gillard has a track record of protecting gay, lesbian and bisexual people from workplace discrimination in the Fair Work Act.
"The real question for the GLBTI community is whether Ms Gillard's views will prevail over those of the more conservative or religious powerbrokers who put her in her role. If she prevails, then the sun may shine a little more brightly for GLBT Australians under Ms Gillard's leadership."
