Tasmanian Liberals divided on gay law reform

Tasmanian Liberals divided on gay law reform

By Dave Wright

HOBART — The chairperson of the parliamentary Liberal Party's committee on anti-discrimination, Sue Napier, has said that the law should not be concerned with homosexual behaviour.

The issue has been raised as the Liberal Party works towards formulation of an anti-discrimination bill. Tasmania is the only state without anti-discrimination legislation.

Napier believes that legislation should protect homosexuals from discrimination in the workplace and from vilification and incitement to hatred.

However, this has caused a storm within ranks of the parliamentary Liberal Party. Attorney-General Ron Cornish said that he would never support the decriminalisation of homosexual behaviour. Under Tasmanian law, the penalty for men engaging in sex "against the order of nature", is 21 years in jail.

At the Young Liberals state conference, a motion calling on the government to put gay law reform permanently on the shelf, and demanding that gay law reform should never be introduced by members of the Liberal Party under any circumstances, was narrowly defeated.

Last year the Legislative Assembly, then controlled by Labor and the Green Independents, passed a decriminalisation bill, but it was blocked in the Liberal-dominated upper house. Recently pressure has mounted not only from within Australia, but also internationally, for the law to be changed, with an appeal currently before the United Nations Human Rights Committee.

While Napier's anti-discrimination proposal would not decriminalise homosexuality, it is at least a step in the right direction.

Rodney Croome, from the Tasmanian Lesbian and Gay Rights Group, supported Napier's stand. He said, "If and when this law comes into place and the world does not fall apart, people will recognise that protecting gay men and lesbians from discrimination is necessary and OK".

From GLW issue 73