I have just received news that I can now publish my submission to the Queensland Parliament committee where I supported the abolition of gay panic defence in Queensland.
Here is my submission:
Here is my submission:
4 January 2017
The Research Director
Legal Affairs Community Safety
Committee
Parliament House
BRISBANE QLD
4000
By email: lacsc@parliament.qld.gov.au
Dear Sir/Madam
Submission
as to the Criminal Law Amendment Bill 2016
1. Summary
I write to support clause
10 of the bill which is to amend Section 304 of the Criminal Code, the effect of which amendment is to abolish gay panic
defence.
2. Who am I?
I am a solicitor in a
private practice. I was admitted in 1987 and practise primarily in family law.
I have for almost 20 years spoken out and lobbied to ensure that there is
equality in the law for LGBTI people. In 2015 I was awarded LGBTI Q Activist of
the Year. In 2016 my firm was awarded the Small Legal Practice Initiative Award
by the Queensland Law Society in its Equity and Diversity Awards, for my firm’s
advocacy for women and LGBTI people in particular.
For about 15 years I wrote
a legal column for gay magazines in Queensland.
I was a key organiser of
the foundation of the Brisbane LGBTI Legal Service Inc. In 2015 that service
awarded me the Rainbow Key Award. In 2016 I was one of two presenters
celebrating the 6th anniversary of that service held in the Banco
Court of the Supreme Court of Queensland. The other presenter was the Honourable
Michael Kirby.
I have made
representations to Attorneys-General Dick, Lucas and D’Ath seeking the
abolition of gay panic defence in Queensland.
3. Bipartisan support
Although this Bill has
been put before the house by the attorney, I note that in the past the then
Opposition Leader Mr Springborg stated publicly that the Opposition would
support the abolition of gay panic defence in Queensland. I would hope that
that bipartisan support remains. The health and safety of LGBTI people in
Queensland should not be the subject of a political score card.
4. Why gay panic defence should be
abolished
Then Human Rights
Commissioner, (and now Federal Liberal MP) Tim Wilson in his national
consultation report Resilient Individuals:Sexual
Orientation, Gender Identity and Intersex Rights called on the two States
that allowed gay panic defence to remain, namely Queensland and South
Australia, to abolish it. Abolition by Queensland would bring Queensland into
line with most other states.
Mr Wilson in his report
asked participants in a survey what they would describe an inclusive Australia to
look like. Three responses to me stand out:
·
“Equality at all levels, no special
rules for minorities but neither should there be any persecutions for people’s
preferences whatever they may be”
·
“A place where it is simply
unremarkable to be LBGTI”
·
“A country where I can walk down
the street and hold the hand of the woman I love without prejudice …..”
The commission states in
its report, at page 15:
“Research
consistently identified higher than average rates of violence, harassment and
bullying towards LGBTI people in Australia. It is well established that violence,
harassment and bullying affect the well-being and equality of life of people
who experience it”.
A 2012 report quoted at
page 15 in the commission report revealed 25.5% of the survey respondents
reported an experience of homophobic abuse or harassment in the previous 12
months. In addition, a further 8.7% reported experiencing threats of or actual
physical violence. Approximately 40% of trans men and women reported
experiencing some form of verbal abuse, and almost a quarter reported some form
of harassment. Additionally 65% of
participants in the 2014 first annual national trans mental health study
reported experiencing discriminationor harassment. It was difficult for the
commission to comment on rates of violence, harassment and bullying for intersex
people due to the absence of available data.
In their ground breaking
research Speaking out, stopping
homophobic and transphobic abuse in Queensland (2010) Dr Alan Berman and
Shirleene Robinson paint a disturbing picture of abuse towards LGBTI people in
Queensland. The most common form of abuse was, not surprisingly, verbal abuse
which affected 73% of 796 respondents in their life time. Five hundred and ten
respondents or 47% experienced harassment including spitting and offensive
gestures. Four hundred and fifty two respondents or 41% experienced threats of
physical violence in a life time. Two hundred and fifty four respondents or 23%
were subjected to physical attack or assault without a weapon (including being
punched, kicked or beaten). The authors note at pages 36 to 37 that:
“The
figures describing the levels of physical attacks or assaults on the LBGTIQ
population of Queensland are a striking deviation from broader population
statistics from the year 2000, which declared that 7.6% of a single
“mainstream” Queenslanders had been the victim of assault. This means that
members of the LGBTIQ population approximately three times more likely than
“mainstream” Queenslanders to experience physical violence. Figures from
respondents who indicated they had experienced physical assault with a weapon
(9% of survey respondents) are also included, the members of the Queensland
LBGTIQ population are more than four times more likely to experience physical
assault than all Queenslanders ………… In
some instances, perpetrators unleash physical violence after reading cues which
they perceive to be single “homosexual” or “unmanly”. In one such instance, a
male respondent, who was wearing drag after returning from a fancy dress party,
described being “punched and kicked and told that I needed to know what it was
to be a real man”. Another male, leaving his work premises in Brisbane was
walking home when “three young drunk men who had been on Caxton Street drinking
after a football match approach. One hit me in the stomach, the other slapped
my backside, tousled my hair, waved me goodbye as I ran. Called me something
akin to “gay” as they ran and another male was hit in the face with a metal
pole and suffered a broken nose and nerve damage”.
Another respondent described how he
was “attacked from behind, spun around, elbowed in the face”. Another described
how he was:
“beaten to a pulp [with his] face smashed
in, unconscious, teeth missing, jaw broken in five places, five metal plates
and screws to hold the jaw together, jaw wired shut for 4 months, infections in
the face, reconstructive surgery needed and braces needed for a further 4 years
to realign teeth.”
Put simply, if Parliament
enacts this proposed change, which I consider to be well drafted, and which does
not victimise those subjected to domestic violence, it will give a powerful
message to the community that these types of assaults are unwelcome, unapproved
and should not be tolerated.
My husband and I (and I
say husband as we married in the United States in 2015 although the marriage is
not recognised in Australia) live in Fortitude Valley. The Valley of course and
New Farm are known for gay cultures. One
might think we were safe there. Alas this is not true. Almost every other day
for the “sin” of holding hands or being perceived to be different, we are given
the death stare, or look of disdain, or have yelled at us abusive homophobic
terms. We have done nothing by our conduct to deserve such abuse.
On 30 December 2016 we
happened to be sitting on a tram on the Gold Coast. This was in the middle of
the day. We weren’t holding hands. We weren’t being affectionate. We just sat
there. A young man got on the tram and at which point he saw us, formed the
view that we were gay, directed abuse towards us all the while the subject of
CCTV. Our reaction was to avoid eye contact and act protectively. We should not
have to live in fear in going about our normal lawful activities simply because
we are perceived as being different. I was at that time afraid that I and my
husband were going to be assaulted. I am no shrinking violet but that was
scary.
I urge the committee to
support this provision and for the House to pass the amendment.
I am happy for this
submission to be published, and prepared to give evidence to the committee if
that assists. The opinions set out in my submissions are my own.
Yours faithfully
Stephen Page
Harrington
Family Lawyers
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