Marriage equality advocates believe the number of pro-equality submissions to the Senate's marriage equality inquiry could be greater than 10,000, but have emphasised that the number of submissions should not overshadow their high quality.
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Australian Marriage Equality spokesperson, Peter Furness, said that 8,500 submissions in favour of marriage equality were sent through AME alone.
"If we add together the 8,500 submissions sent through AME to the estimated numbers of submissions sent through other community groups and to the Senate inquiry directly, the number is likely to be well over 10,000", Mr Furness said.
"But that number should not overshadow the high quality of the submissions."
"Many submissions told important personal stories about the need for full equality."
"These stories came from same-sex partners who wish to marry or who wish to have their overseas marriage recognised, from straight people who dearly want their gay and lesbian relatives to be treated equally, or who feel their own marriage is diminished by discrimination, or simply from concerned Australians who feel the whole nation is lessened by prejudice."
"These submissions are a historic document of immense national significance."
"We urge members of the Senate inquiry to read the pro-equality submissions very carefully and ensure their final report reflects the many issues raised."
Mr Furness said the show of support for marriage equality marks a turning point in the debate.
"After such an overwhelming show of heartfelt support for marriage equality, it will be impossible for our federal politicians to ever again ignore the demand for same-sex marriage or dismiss it as a marginal issue."
Mr Furness said it is difficult to estimate how many submissions were made by people opposed to equality.
"Given the very large number of submissions, it may be a week or more before we have an idea how many submissions were received against equality.
An inquiry into the 2004 Marriage Act amendments which banned same-sex marriage received about 13,000 submissions of which about 3000 were against the amendments and in favour of equality.
That was largest number of submissions received by an Australian parliamentary inquiry in history, although the inquiry was never completed.
See AME's submission here:
Attachment 1 - Galaxy Poll June 2009 (pdf 236Kb)
Attachment 2 - Herdt Study (pdf 242Kb)
Attachment 3 - Not So Privates Lives (pdf 760Kb)
Attachment 4 - Civil Unions 'A Failed Experiment' (pdf 160Kb)