A gay couple in Australia are in a race against time as they desperately fight for the Australian government to legalise same-sex marriage before one of them loses their battle to cancer.

Peter and Bon have been together 50 years, but two years ago their lives were turned upside down when Bon was diagnosed with cancer.

His diagnoses only gave him a few months to live, and two years on he is still fighting.

It is not just the cancer Bon is fighting though, he and his partner are also fighting for marriage equality so as they can wed before it’s too late.

Speaking on an advert for Australian Marriage Equality, Bon explained that when he met Peter it was “love at first sight”.

They were one of the first openly gay couples in the country, putting them at risk of imprisonment or institutionalisation due to archaic laws.

However, the fear of homophobia never stopped them in their fight for equality as they helped pave the way to greater acceptance – and neither will cancer.

“We’ve been second class citizens for all of the 50 years we’ve been together,” Peter said.

“It would be absolutely wonderful if we could say one day ‘we are equal’,” he added.

The video that the couple starred in urges Australian people to write a letter to their local MPs in a bid to petition for equal marriage to be legalised.

Australian Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, promised a marriage plebiscite which would have seen $7 million in funding given to anti-LGBT campaign groups.

The public vote plan, which would not have held any legal binding, was controversial and not supported by either side of the campaign because of the large expense.

Some LGBT activists even went as far to call for the government to scrap the costly and redundant vote in favour of free chicken nuggets.

The country is now in the midst of considering a nationwide ballot on the topic.

Turnbull, has reaffirmed his opposition to passing same-sex marriage without a public vote beforehand.

The right-wing PM has refused to permit a free Parliamentary vote on equal marriage.

20 heads of some of Australia’s largest companies penned a letter to Turnbull urging him to allow a free vote on the issue in Parliament.