Sally Rugg

Sally Rugg is a Melbourne-based LGBTIQ activist, feminist 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.[1][2] Until her highly publicised dismissal in 2022, Rugg served as the Chief of Staff for Independent Member of Parliament, Monique Ryan.

Sally Rugg
Rugg at a Melbourne rally in 2021
Rugg at a Melbourne rally in 2021
Born (1988-10-02) 2 October 1988
Australia
OccupationActivist, writer.
Period2013–present
SpouseKate McCartney
Website
speakingout.com.au/speaker/sally-rugg/

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 was made legal for six days, which she says informed her views.[3]

Awards and recognition

Rugg has won numerous awards due to her campaigning for the YES same-sex marriage vote.[4] There is a room named after Rugg in Oxford Street, Sydney named "The Sally Rugg LGBTIQ Pride Room".[5] In 2018, Rugg was awarded the FBi Radio SMAC of the Year award for her work on the YES same-sex marriage campaign[6] and Strayan of the Year by Pedestrian.tv, for her efforts in the YES campaign.[7] and was a finalist for Hero of the Year at the Australian LGBTI Awards.[8] In 2017, Sally was named among Harper’s Bazaar’s 5 Women of The Year, by Cosmopolitan magazine as one of Australia’s Most Influential LGBTIQ people, ranked first in Mammamia’s Most Powerful LGBTIQ Women list, by Amnesty International’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,[9] and won the New South Wales Honour Awards Young Achiever Award in 2016.[10]

Personal life

Rugg self-identifies as gay.[11] She lives in Melbourne and is engaged to comedian Kate McCartney.[12]

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 Guardian, 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).[13][14][15]

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.[16][17]

Dispute with Monique Ryan
On 25 January 2023, Monique Ryan's chief of staff, Sally Rugg, launched a Federal Court action against Ryan in relation to a "breach of general protections under the Fair Work Act".[18] On 7 March 2023, a Federal Court judge dismissed an interlocutory application by Rugg to continue working for Ryan.[19][20]

References
  1. Street, Andrew P. (9 September 2017). "When Marriage Equality Becomes Law, It Will Be Because of People Like Sally Rugg". Rolling Stone Australia. Archived from the original on 21 December 2017.
  2. "2019 UniSA Nelson Mandela Lecture". www.unisa.edu.au. 4 September 2019. Archived from the original on 3 December 2020.
  3. Law, Benjamin; Rugg, Sally (5 August 2019). "Sally Rugg: 'As queer people, we open up the most intimate parts of ourselves to the majority'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
  4. "Sally Rugg Books". www.hachette.com.au. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
  5. "The Sally Rugg LGBTIQ Pride Room". Song Hotel Sydney Australia. 13 May 2018. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
  6. "'YES' campaigner takes out FBi Radio SMAC top gong". Retrieved 17 May 2018.
  7. "Here's The Full List Of Winners From Oz's First Ever Pop Culture Awards". Retrieved 17 May 2018.
  8. "Hero". Retrieved 17 May 2018.
  9. "GetUp! MEDIA ROOM". Retrieved 4 December 2017.
  10. "LGBTI Heroes Honoured At Community Service Awards". Retrieved 4 December 2017.
  11. Sally Rugg [@sallyrugg] (28 October 2020). "Cannot believe that I'm gay but don't have a 'personal life' section of my wikipedia page? Very unfair" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  12. Sally Rugg [@sallyrugg] (3 January 2022). "IMPORTANT RETRACTION TO MY 2019 MEMOIR" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  13. "Sally Rugg | Speaking Out Agency | Book Sally to speak at your event". Speaking Out. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
  14. Convenor, Gender Institute; convenor.genderinstitute@anu.edu.au. "She Leads In-Conversation with Sally Rugg". genderinstitute.anu.edu.au. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
  15. "Shelf Reflection: Sally Rugg". Kill Your Darlings. 12 April 2018. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
  16. "Sally Rugg". Q&A. 20 June 2019. Retrieved 26 July 2019.
  17. Rugg, Sally (12 January 2021). How powerful we are : behind the scenes with one of Australia's leading activists. Sydney, NSW. ISBN 9780733642227. OCLC 1103918151.
  18. Thompson, Angus (30 January 2023). "Activist, adviser Sally Rugg takes boss Monique Ryan to court". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
  19. Tim Callanan and Kristian Silva (7 March 2023). "Judge rules Sally Rugg cannot continue working for MP Monique Ryan while they face off in court". ABC News Australia. Retrieved 7 March 2023.
  20. Rugg v Commonwealth of Australia as Represented by the Department of Finance AND Ryan, VID 44 of 2023 (Federal Court of Australia 2023-03-07).
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