In September 2003, the UN Commission on Human Rights declared that the Australian federal government was violating equality and personal rights under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights after denying a man a de facto veteran`s pension because of his 38 years of same-sex relationships. The UN`s call for Australia to take action to treat same-sex couples equally has been ignored. Asked directly, Attorney General Philip Ruddock said the government was not bound by the decision. [ref. needed] Despite federal government reluctance, states and territories have continued to make progress toward same-sex marriage. Since 2001, Victoria has amended 60 laws to promote same-sex marriage. In 2002, Western Australia eliminated any remaining legal discrimination based on sexual orientation (including adoption) by adding the new definition of «common-law partner», and Queensland created a new, non-discriminatory definition of «common-law partner» in 61 statutes. In 2003, Tasmania became the first state to establish a same-sex relationship registry, giving same-sex couples almost the same rights as married couples without adoption. In 2004, the Northern Territory abolished legal discrimination against same-sex couples in most areas of territorial law, and the TERRITORY began allowing same-sex couples to adopt. In 2005, the City of Sydney, New South Wales, created a relationship declaration program that offers limited legal recognition to same-sex couples.
In 2006, South Australia, the last state to recognize same-sex couples, amended 97 laws, dropped the term «de facto» and classified couples as «domestic partners.» The city of Melbourne in Victoria provided a «relationship declaration register» for all relationships and carers from 2007, which followed in December when Victoria introduced a national registry and amended 69 laws to include couples who are in registered relationships. [ref. needed] Inspired by the post-Stonewall marches in San Francisco, Australia`s first-ever gay rights march took place in Sydney on June 24, 1978 – which eventually became Sydney`s annual gay and lesbian Mardi Gras. Police arrested fifty-three people during the march. South Australia`s first attempt at reform was led by Murray Hill, a Liberal Country League member of the Legislative Council. Under the Criminal Law Codification (Amendment) Act 1972, homosexual conduct remained illegal, but the law allowed a defence in cases where the conduct took place in private among men over 21 years of age. 1972 – South Africa establishes that it is a defence against the crime of anal sex when committed in private between persons over the age of 21. 2003 – NSW officially adjusts the age of consent to 16. The first laws in Australia were based on the laws in force in Britain at the time, inherited from colonization in 1788.
Lesbianism has never been illegal in Britain or its colonies, including Australia. However, sodomy laws were part of Australian law from 1788 to 1994 under the Human Rights (Sexual Conduct) Act 1994. The sentence for «sodomy» was reduced from execution to life imprisonment in 1899. [5] 2018 – The 9. January 2018 marks the first day that same-sex couples can be legally married in Australia. Some couples are exempt from the prescribed 30-day waiting period and marry before that date. 1788: The British colonize Australia and import their legal system, including anti-gay laws. It is unclear how different Indigenous nations treated LGBT+ people prior to colonization. 1976/77 – Victoria Police arrest more than 100 men for homosexuality as part of a summer law enforcement campaign that includes sending police officers posing as homosexuals to trap offenders. Since the beginning of his term as Prime Minister of Australia in 1996, John Howard has made clear his position on gay rights. In January 1997, Howard refused to support Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras, saying on the television show A Current Affair that he would be «disappointed» if one of his children told him they were gay or lesbian.[21] [ref.
needed] When Howard was asked in a triple-J interview in August 2001 where he ranked on a scale of acceptance of homosexuality, with one end being total acceptance and the other total rejection, Howard replied, «Oh, I`d put myself somewhere in the middle. I certainly don`t think homosexual liaisons should have the same status as marriage, I don`t think so. [ref. A few months after the TGLRG was formed, a ban by Hobart City Council on the group`s stall at the Salamanca market led to weekly protests and arrests that escalated into Australia`s greatest civil disobedience for gay rights, leading the council to backtrack. When the minority government`s bill to decriminalize homosexuality was defeated by the Legislative Council the following year, proponents of legislative reform took their case to the United Nations Human Rights Committee. This case was the first in Australia and the first of its kind worldwide. The UN decision against Tasmania`s laws in early 1994 attracted considerable national and international attention, triggered a boycott of Tasmanian products and a global letter-writing campaign by Amnesty International, and imposed on Tasmania a reputation for intolerance. The laws were further discredited when authorities refused to prosecute Tasmanian homosexuals who turned themselves in to police with details of their illegal sexual activities. Until 1924, the penalty for same-sex relations in New South Wales was life imprisonment (although later reduced to 14 years in prison). The murder of Adelaide gay academic George Duncan in 1972 has been widely blamed on undercover police. The murder made Duncan a martyr for the gay rights movement and sparked calls for reform. The Penal Code (Sexual Offences) (Amendment) Act 1975 legalized homosexual acts between consenting adults.
The Australian Capital Territory followed in 1976 and Victoria in 1980. It would take more than a decade for all States to follow suit. 1982: NSW becomes the first Australian state to pass laws prohibiting discrimination against homosexuals. However, male acts of homosexuality remain illegal for another two years. Her first fight came at the age of 13, when she faced an opponent more than a decade older than her – an early sign that Caitlin Parker would not become an ordinary boxer. Now she has the chance to make boxing history. Barry York was a historian at the Ministry of the Interior for ten years starting in 2006. His email address is barryyork554@gmail.com On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Waterdale Road Walks, he led a self-funded oral history project and recorded the memories of some of the participants.
Today, there may be debates about same-sex marriage, but no one is advocating the recriminalization of homosexuality. However, it is interesting to look around the world where homosexuality is still a crime.