Northern Territory Attorney-General Natasha Fyles. | Photo: Facebook
The Northern Territory in Australia will remove the criminal convictions of men charged with homosexual acts.
Gay sex was illegal in the NT until 1984. Current territory Attorney-General, Natasha Fyles, introduced a bill into parliament last week
‘Territorians want and deserve a government they can trust – one that legislates for the safety and inclusion of all Territorians,’ she said.
‘Across the Territory and the Nation we recognize that legislation was wrong, but some people still hold a criminal record from that time.’
Closure and justice
LGBTI community advocate especially in the NT, Dino Hodge, said the bill offers closure. But he also called on the NT government to offer an apology to those convicted of homosexuality.
‘If this bill passes, it would mean closure. It would mean full equality when it comes to laws which criminalised us for who we are. After 30 years, we have finally achieved the justice we had been seeking,’ he said.
‘While expungement is welcomed, there is also a need for an apology to help heal past wounds still felt acutely today by so many people.’
Discrimination did not end at decriminalization
Hodge said the impact of the ‘archaic laws’ were felt ‘well past decriminalization’.
‘There were even cases of continuing police persecution after decriminalisation, when community attitudes had changed but police practices had not,’ he said.
‘Gay couples who were harassed and charged by the police, but the charges were dismissed by Magistrates, because the police had gone out of their way to harass people for being gay and having consensual sex in private.
‘Those men were highly traumatised, they paid a lot of money to get legal representation and sadly they left the Territory afterwards.
The Bill would allow people with charges and convictions for consensual same-sex activity to clear their names. It would also remove the need to disclose these past convictions on employment or volunteering checks or visa applications.
All other states and territories in Australia have introduced similar bills. The Western Australian Government is currently considering a similar bill. That bill has passed the lower house but is yet to pass the upper house.
The NT is catching up to the rest of Australia on LGBTI issues. This month is also made it legal for same-sex couples to adopt children and promised to keep funding the LGBTI education program, Safe Schools.
