*Age Of Consent & Legal Sexual Activity for the State of
28th October 2002 Letter to Premier Peter Beattie (with copy and covering letter to Attorney General Rod Welford), requesting a meeting with both himself and the Attorney General by a delegation in order to discuss rapid implementation of the recommendations made in the October 1990 Report by the (Labor majority) Parliamentary Criminal Justice Committee Report “Reforms in Laws Relating to Homosexuality – an Information Paper”. The Report had recommended that no higher age be set for any sexual activity and that the age of consent should apply equally to both men and women, regardless of their sexual orientation.
The following is a full transcript.
To: Premier of Queensland, Hon Peter
Beattie MP.
P0
Copy to: Attorney-General Rod Welford MP
GPO
Date:
From: John Frame
(presenter for 9 years of Radio 4ZZZ’s gay support radio program Queer Radio)
Ph: 3350 1562 / 0409 501 561
Attachments:
appendix 1(a)(b)(c): Recommendations of the Parliamentary Criminal Justice Committee report entitled “Reforms in Laws Relating to Homosexuality – An Information Paper” (Report No 2, October 1990)
appendix 2: Pages 44 to 49 of the Parliamentary
Criminal Justice Committee report entitled “Reforms in Laws Relating to
Homosexuality – An Information Paper” (Report No 2, October 1990)
Re: Request
for a meeting with our delegation.
Dear Mr
Beattie,
I am writing to request an
opportunity for a face to face meeting with yourself and the Attorney General
by a delegation representing the gay community.
We wish to discuss the amendment
of current law so that the age of consent applies with equity, regardless of an
individual’s sexual orientation or consenting sexual activity.
In 1990 you were the Chairman of
the Parliamentary Criminal Justice Committee which recommended exactly this in “Recommendation
7” of the report entitled “Reforms in Laws Relating to Homosexuality – An
Information Paper” (Report No 2, October 1990) [appendix 1(b)]: “The Committee
recommends that the age of consent for homosexual acts in accordance with the
principles of sexual equality and anti-discrimination be the same for males as
it is for females, irrespective of whether the sexual act is heterosexual or
homosexual.”
As you know the Parliament at the
time failed to follow the Committee’s recommendations and instead of a
gender-neutral age of consent, a separate age of 18 was set for anal
intercourse.
In the hearings held by the
Committee, reasoned professional argument was presented to state why a separate
age for a perceived homosexual act would be detrimental. The Report highlights
and accepts this argument, with the Committee declaring [appendix 2 (Report page 48)] that “If
sexual orientation of both boys and girls is determined early and most likely
before puberty, then the age of consent for males should be the same as for
females irrespective of whether the sexual act is heterosexual or homosexual.
The most damaging effect of the
higher age of 18 for anal intercourse is that there is no effective sex
education or relationships support directed at same sex attracted men who are aged
between 16 and 18. The Report acknowledges that sexual activity will most
likely happen regardless of legality, but illegality means it may happen without
the benefits of knowledge of safe sexual practices to avoid contracting HIV and
other intercourse-related sexually transmitted diseases.
These young men also suffer the
stigma of strongly perceived inferiority due mainly to the criminality of one
possible sexual act. The Report acknowledges that lack of self-esteem is a
major factor in persons wanting to care for their health and well being. It is
important for young gay and bisexual men to know they are just as legal and
acceptable as their heterosexual and lesbian peers.
I believe that the 6th and 7th August 1990
PCJC Hearings and the Committee’s October 1990 Report contain all of
the truth and information necessary for this current Government to act
immediately in favour of following the Committee’s Recommendation 7.
I believe that the Government
should remove Section 208 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act (Act No 3 of 1997)
and amend any laws referring to that section.
My recent experience in
discovering and reading the Hearings and Report documents (via the internet) has
given me a renewed hope that this Labor Government can have the political will
to act on it’s own past statements of beliefs.
I would like to see action occur
smoothly, with full credit to a Parliament acting for the good of its people.
I further believe that since 1990
both the public and the Parliament have become more fully informed and aware of
the reality of homosexuality as being just another fact of life, and certainly
being neither a risk to society nor a perversion. They are ready to accept this
socially just reform.
I know that I can quickly arrange
for a group of eminently respectable people to meet with you and with the
Attorney General at a suitable time, so that we may inform our community that
progress is being made to effect the reform that should have occurred 12 years
ago.
We want a Labor Government that
we can vote for based on their track record of social justice, not on their
possibilities for future terms in office.
I look forward to hearing from
you.
Yours sincerely,
John Frame
3350 1562 / 0409 501 561
jvframe@bigpond.net.au