“Sodomy”
by Rodney Polkinghorne
as printed in Semper Floreat
Queer Edition 2003
(launched 24th September 2003)
(“Semper Floreat” is the University Of Queensland Student Union
newspaper)
Justin was
18 when he met Dian at a fair and wanted to see more of her. He worked at McDonalds, she was in the second year of a science degree at
UO. One night after coffee, and a drive in search of condoms, they ended up in
her bedroom. This time they tried something different: anal sex.
So what,
you wonder? In Queensland, Justin could spend 14 years in jail for sodomy.
Maybe you could too.
Sodomy laws
were a product of medieval Europe. Some countries got rid of them centuries
ago, but Australia and its allies enforced them until very recently in ways
that we are now embarrassed to admit. After the Second World War, gay men who
had survived the holocaust were imprisoned by our occupying forces.
Queenslanders were routinely jailed for being gay until 1990.
The tide
started to turn in 1948, when Kinsey reported that there were about as many
queer Americans as left handed ones. A decade later in England, the Wolfenden report concluded that regardless of anyone’s
personal morals, the law had no legitimate concern with consensual sex. Hardly
anyone disputes this now. Don Dunstan brought gay law
reform to Australia in 1972. Only Tasmania was left when Queensland caught up
in 1990, and they held out until 1997.
Unlike
all other states, where sodomy laws have been repealed entirely, the Queensland
laws have been reformed only partly. Anal sex is still banned for people under
18; other sexual activity is legal from
16. The Northern
territory has a law against sex between men under 18, but the government is
keen to repeal it. Ours refuses to discuss it.
You might
find it strange to read about other people’s sexual activity. I certainly find
it strange to write about It. It’s none of our business,
however the government thinks it’s theirs. Not just Semper,
but the police and judges are watching you.
Maybe
we’ll see a new twist to the “tough on crime” election slogan: “Peter Beattie: Hard
on Sodomy”
Sodomy
laws are silly. Given that Queensland’s are not enforced, and never will be,
what’s the urgency to repeal them?
Few who
remember being a gay teenager would wish the experience on others. The sodomy
laws deny queer kids the civil rights they need to stand up for themselves.
They threaten exposure and jail at the whim of the government or headmaster.
The victims are too young to vote or stand for office themselves, and queer
members of the Queensland parliament still aren’t willing to speak up for them.
Injustice is alive and biting in the moonlight state.
There are
other reasons for urgency. HIV infection rates appear to be rising again. The
government worried that the original sodomy laws put safe sex trainers in an awkward
position. They responded by reforming them to single out gay school children.
The other
concern is suicide. I believe it kills similar numbers of gay men as does AIDS:
the data are in the library for you to make your own guess if you want. The
discussion on AlDS in 1990 shows more concern for
potential straight victims than actual gay ones, and queer kids tend to kill
more of themselves than their straight oppressors.
But if
AIDS forced reform of the sodomy laws, youth suicide should force their repeal.
The link between sodomy laws and HIV infection is indirect. It doesn’t take
much imagination to see how a state law against being gay and a national
propensity to send illegal kids to concentration camps could contribute to
suicide.
Lobbying
to repeal the Queensland sodomy laws has been fairly low key so far Gay kids
have enough problems when the government ignores them. Older men have other
priorities, and might fear that speaking out on this issue will stir up
prejudices linking them to paedophilia.
You might
think that the laws will be repealed as a matter of course, but the Government
has proven reluctant to even discuss them, much less commit to action. A louder
campaign is needed.
That’s up
to us. The government will repeal these laws only if they are forced to, and
the only people with enough interest and organisation
to force them are the students of this university. There will be a meeting
during queerfest to decide how.
Email interview with Greg
Milne, on behalf of the Attorney-General of Queensland:
RP: Would the Attorney-General support
the enforcement of sections 208 (Unlawful sodomy) and 209 (Attempted sodomy) of
the Criminal Code Act 1899 if he became aware of a specific breach of them?
GM:
enforcement is a matter for police
RP: Does the Attorney-General support the
sodomy laws in principle, or does he believe they should be repealed, just not yet?
GM: the government
has no plans to alter the existing law at this time
RP: If he believes the laws should be repealed later, what circumstances
prevent them from being repealed now, and does he expect these to change in the
next term of parliament?
GM: See above
RP: Otherwise,
how does he reconcile the support for these laws with the findings of the UN
Human Rights Commission and the US Supreme Court that forbidding behaviour natural to a particular sexuality but not that
natural to others, subjects persons of that sexuality
to arbitrary punishment, in violation of their right to due process?
GM: See
above
RP: Does he believe the sodomy laws are
supported by young adults, the only people they directly affect?
GM:
These laws cover any person of any age having anal intercourse with a person
under the age of 18.
RP: Does he fear that support for the One Nation
Party might increase if the government discussed repealing sodomy laws?
GM: See above
Email interview with John Frame, presenter of
Queer Radio on ZZZ and queer rights activist:
RP: How long have you been lobbying
the government to repeal the under-age sodomy laws, and why did you start?
JF: I felt forced to act in early 2000
when, on the 19th of February, the Courier Mail printed a big feature article titled
"Reasonable Age". Above a large image of ancient Greek
art depicting several naked men about to get it on (inferring an orgy), there
was the immediately inflammatory statement: "An
open invitation to paedophiles, or an end to sexual
discrimination? Lowering the age of consent for boys is an issue which inspires
strong debate, writes Deborah Cassrells".
Cassrells stated grossly wrong information on age of consent – claiming that
Australian law prohibited all male to male sex involving anyone aged under 18. She even branded as paedophile
any man who had engaged in sex with a seventeen year old male.
Earlier in
her article Cassrells had referred to the suicide of
New South Wales Judge Yeldham over such accusations,
so I believed this to be an incredibly serious matter. The Courier Mail’s
editor refused to print a retraction or correction, and refused to acknowledge
there was even a problem with what they’d printed.
I
sought official, written confirmation of how current
I found
that the government did not make accurate information on age of
consent and the sodomy law available to anyone - neither their own
agencies nor the general public.
I expected
that in order to achieve a resolution it would just be a matter
of writing to the Attorney General and Premier pointing out that this was
a real and identifiable problem, one with serious consequences -
especially for youth, and of asking for either an effective information
campaign or the simple solution of removal of the Sodomy
Law. Again I was wrong – I believe that they have known full well
since 1990 that the Sodomy Law is a problem, but they just refuse to do
anything about it.
RP: Can you speculate why the state's leaders refuse to discuss these
laws? Do they believe the effects aren't important, are
they afraid of controversy, or does talk of gay teenagers make them
genuinely uncomfortable?
JF: I’m sure that the reason the
Beattie Government is totally silent on this issue is that there are no votes
to be won because of it. I have written to the Attorney General detailing how
the Sodomy Law denies 16 & 17 year old queer men the peer acceptance,
sexual health education, relationships education, and counseling services they
deserve - and he has actually written to me saying he doesn’t believe these
constitute a problem. The Beattie Government are afraid of controversy, but
while the mainstream media refuse to acknowledge this is an issue, and while
the vast majority of the LGBT Community stay silent, there simply is no controversy.
I am
certain that the State’s leaders are uncomfortable with the thought of
discussing teenage same-sex sexual activity, and that they are scared that any
statement they make which acts toward acceptance, education and support of
queer youth, might be viewed by some as “promoting homosexuality”.
RP:
Sodomy laws oppose the goals of the recent anti-discrimination act. Was this
raised with the government while they planned it, and if so, how did they
respond?
JF:
The Sodomy Law was
proposed and enacted by the Goss Labor Government in November 1990, even though
the Homosexual Law Reform Report (chaired by Peter Beattie himself) had
specifically recommended that there be no higher age set for any gender or for
any sexual activity. Obviously another calculatedly conservative decision was
made when State Government laws were declared exempt from the field of
reference of the 1991 Anti-Discrimination Act. The ADCQ can voice disapproval,
but has no power to act on this matter.
RP: The laws have been discussed very little in
the straight media. Are queers reluctant to raise the issue, or are they
speaking out and being ignored?
JF: I’ve sent detailed media releases to all
mainstream TV and radio on a few occasions since early 2000, but not one
source has picked up the story. Queensland Pride has run a couple of minor
articles. However even the new LGBT lobby group “ARCQ” gives the issue a low
priority and are currently taking no action. I am given a distinct impression
of unwillingness from some LGBT areas to “rock the boat”. Tamara Tonite has been the exception in being fully supportive –
providing regular and ample space for the issue to be presented in warranted
detail.
RP: What do you think it will take for the laws to be repealed?
JF: The “unofficial word” is that
the law will not change unless youth themselves demand
that it be changed. That's a very tough ask from the demographic which is most
disempowered by the Sodomy Law.
I’ve also
been unofficially told that the Beattie Government “might” remove the Sodomy
Law sometime during their next term of office, but they have been very careful
to make absolutely no promises. I believe it will take a campaign of prominent
street level demonstration by youth and their supporters – which seems crazy,
since even the
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