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Openly Gay Senator Speaks |
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Speech by Senator Brian Greig
September 1, 1999
Some might say this was good preparation for a career in politics. It was there, growing up on the windswept coast north of Perth during the late 1970s and early 1980s, that I developed my love of the sea and of the coastal sands and bushlands which hug the Western Australian coastline, a region rich in the history of the early exploration by the Dutch. Growing up in Lancelin introduced me to the wonders of natural history and instilled in me a deep respect for native flora and fauna. My early years were in some ways mirrored by the life of one of my favourite authors, Gerald Durrell, who as a child grew up on the sun-drenched shores of Corfu in Greece. He later wrote with great clarity and humour about his love of wildlife and the need to protect and preserve it. In later years, as a student activist I campaigned in defence of free education and in opposition to tertiary fees. I also fought strongly for compulsory student unionism, and am proud of the role that the Democrats have played in defending this principle, once again, from attack.
This has profoundly influenced my life and given me personal insight into intolerance, prejudice and the hatred that I might not otherwise have experienced. Equally, it has made me determined to stand against this and to fight against all unjust laws by confronting law and opinion makers with the reality of their intolerance. As a young person coming to terms with my sexuality, I found it to be an alienating and lonely experience. Schools ignore their gay and lesbian students for fear of being seen to promote homosexuality. But, of course, a person's sexuality is innate. It cannot be taught and it is not contagious. As a consequence of this conspiracy of silence, gay and lesbian youth live in an environment of denial and rejection, with no support, counselling, validation, or role models. And then we wonder why it is that up to one-third of all young people who attempt suicide do so because of the anguish or uncertainty over their sexuality. Lesbian and gay youth are a normal and healthy part of the diverse human family. They need to know that and to know that they are not alone. As the author of Tales of the City, Armistead Maupin, said more succinctly: I wish someone older than me, and wiser than me, had taken me aside and said: You're all right kid. You can grow up to be a doctor or a teacher just like anyone else. You are not sick or crazy or evil. Most of all though, you can love and be loved without hating yourself for it. It came as a shock to me to learn in 1989 that I was a criminal. And in the views of the Western Australian parliament I remain a criminal, because there is no statute of limitation on this type of prosecution. Prior to 1989, all gay men in Western Australia were considered criminals and faced 14 years in prison for consenting sex in private. Little has changed and, although this law has partly been repealed, gay males in my home state under the age of 21—the highest consent age in the world—are still regarded as criminals. These laws are worse than any that exist in Western or Eastern Europe—with the exception of Romania.
While anti-gay laws also exist in New South Wales and the Northern Territory, they are most draconian in WA. Additionally, WA holds the dubious distinction of being the only state where discrimination against gay and lesbian people remains legal. We can be refused employment, accommodation and the provision of goods and services. This happens frequently and with impunity. There is no state or Commonwealth redress. Federal human rights laws exclude us. As a nation, Australia maintains appalling laws against gay and lesbian people. We live under a regime of apartheid. It is an apartheid not based on the colour of our skin, but on the colour of our sexuality. Homophobia is nothing less than sexual racism. But homosexuality is not a behaviour to be regulated. It is an identity to be respected. We are people, first and foremost. We work, we have lives, we love and have relationships. We are family. Yet, despite being citizens, voters and taxpayers, lesbian and gay Australians do not have the same rights—or in many cases have no rights—to those things in life that heterosexual people take for granted. As a gay man, I can be denied access to a hospital to visit my partner if he is sick or injured—because I am not considered next of kin. If I should die, my partner has no legal claim to my superannuation death benefit, despite the fact that I have nominated him as my beneficiary. I cannot claim my partner as a dependant or split our incomes for taxation purposes and, if we should separate, there is no legal mechanism to ensure fair and reasonable property settlement—we are denied access to the Family Court. And so it is for all same sex couples. These complications are even more pronounced for the many gay and lesbian families raising children. It may come as a surprise to the Senate that many gay men do in fact have children and that about 30 per cent of lesbian couples either have or plan to have children. Despite this, some people still promote arguments and laws in opposition to what is the reality of many people's lives. But the fact remains that, no matter how many obstacles you place in front of women trying to have children, those women who really want children will have children, as is their right. Heterosexual people do not have a monopoly on good child rearing practices. It is those people who really want children who make the best parents.
The systemic denial of our relationships is evident even here in the
Senate. I am required to fill out the senators' register of interests,
including notation of any assets and shares belonging to my `spouse or de
facto partner'.
And yet as recently as May of last year, the Senate determined that these definitions must apply only to heterosexual relationships. Lesbian and gay MPs are precluded from registering their partner's interests. When I inquired as to what I should do in relation to Keith, my partner of 13 years, it was suggested to me that I may want to simply comply with the spirit of the register and to provide Keith's details anyway. As a matter of principle, I cannot. Gay and lesbian people fighting for compensation and superannuation death benefits find that the spirit of those acts cannot be applied to same sex relationships. And so it is with unfair stamp duty payments and other taxation imposts, property settlement, family payments and spousal recognition within the defence forces and Public Service. Gay and lesbian people seeking to be regarded as next of kin for hospital visits or funeral arrangements can find that the spirit of those acts cannot be applied to them, and the immigration process for same sex couples applies differently and to our disadvantage. The spirit does not apply here either. No, the spirit of Commonwealth legislation towards same sex relationships is decidedly mean spirited. We are excluded. I give notice that I will move to amend the orders of the Senate relating to spousal definitions in the register to ensure that gay and lesbian MPs will also have the same responsibilities as other members of parliament. The legal recognition of same sex relationships is a human rights priority that must be addressed by the Commonwealth. The New South Wales government has already done this. The Queensland government has indicated it is set to follow, and the Tasmanian government is looking at doing so following the sweeping changes to gay and lesbian law reform that have occurred in the island state. In his victory speech in 1998, Prime Minister Howard spoke of the need for a more caring and tolerant Australia. At their national conference in Hobart two years ago, the Australian Labor Party unanimously passed a motion recognising the need for equality and justice for gay men and lesbians. If these parties are serious about this, as the Democrats are, then now is the time for them to act. The Democrat Sexuality Discrimination Bill currently before the Senate will remove all discrimination from Commonwealth legislation as it currently applies to the sexuality of all Australians. Further, it will impose national antidiscrimination laws on the basis of sexuality or gender status, and make it unlawful to incite hatred on the same grounds. It deserves cross party support. Discrimination against gay and lesbian people is as morally repugnant as racism or anti-Semitism. As a nation we have fallen behind comparable jurisdictions, such as New Zealand, Canada and South Africa, in terms of protecting the human rights of homosexual people. For as long as governments condone this apartheid, they are creating the social and political environment that leads to harassment and violence towards gay and lesbian people. While parliaments continue to deny our relationships, deem us to be criminals, and render us to be second-class citizens without legal protections, then some people will take this as their cue to continue to treat us badly. Australian research shows that almost half of all gay and lesbian people report some form of discrimination or harassment at work, including sackings. Roughly 30 per cent of lesbian and gay people experience harassment at school. And, worst of all, 70 per cent of gay and lesbian people report being verbally abused, threatened or bashed in a public place.
I wish to take a moment now to briefly tell the story of a young man called
Matthew Shepherd. Matthew was a slightly built 21-year-old student in
Wyoming in the United States. About a year ago he was lured from a campus
bar by two men. They drove him to a remote area outside the town of
Laramie, where they viciously beat him.
As he lay there bleeding, begging for his life, he was bound to a fence and left in near freezing temperatures to die. He had been beaten so badly that his limp body, when found, was at first thought to be a scarecrow. His attackers had stolen his shoes and robbed his apartment. After being struck in the head 18 times with the butt of a hand gun, he remained in a coma for five days without regaining consciousness, before dying. Matthew Shepherd was murdered because he was gay. Before anyone here is tempted to think that this could only happen in America, I remind the Senate that no fewer than 30 men have been bashed to death in Sydney since 1990, simply because they were gay or presumed to be so. This violence does not occur in a vacuum, it is not spontaneous. Hatred of this kind takes years to mature within societies. It is nurtured through a culture of invisibility and fear towards gay and lesbian people and the neglect and indifference of parliaments. Each time a piece of legislation comes before the parliament and touches on human rights and human relationships but excludes gay and lesbian people and denies our relationships, it perpetuates this culture of invisibility. Each time a public figure or religious speaker denounces our existence or seeks to justify our differential treatment, it perpetuates this culture of fear. As Justice Michael Kirby said on this topic recently, `The game of shame is over.' I stand here today, on this first day of spring, and on the dawn of a new century, as a representative of the last generation of gay and lesbian people who will tolerate the injustices of the past being carried into the future. To the thousands of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered citizens who know the pain of abuse and discrimination and to those who have been unjustly arrested and jailed, I pledge my support and the support of my party. Throughout my 10 years as a human rights activist, I was inspired by the dedication and tenacity of small groups of people fighting for change against overwhelming odds. These groups have very few resources, other than a passion for justice and a strong desire for change. At times these groups face opposition so fierce it can lead to violence, as we have seen recently in the forests of Western Australia, and it is deeply personal. Yet it is these tiny community groups which change community attitudes, which in turn change laws.
I salute the Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Rights Group which, through a
10-year campaign, brought about the repeal of offensive anti-gay laws in
that state, a state which now leads the world in sexuality education
programs, and leads the nation with antidiscrimination laws.
And I offer my respects to Rodney Croome and Nick Toonan, the public faces of that movement. Their legacy is a United Nations resolution reaffirming the human rights of all gay and lesbian citizens, a resolution which has shone a light into some of the darkest corners of the world and which can now be built on. I also salute the Gay and Lesbian Equality group in my home state which, after 11 years of fighting, is on the brink of achieving change. Its legacy is the shift in community attitudes it has brought about though reasoned arguments, truth and persistence. Senator Tchen, in his first speech, spoke of the generational change taking place in parliament. Specifically, he referred to the election of himself, a Chinese born Australian, and of my colleague Senator Ridgeway, an indigenous Australian, as indicative of this generational change. I agree, but I would go further and add that the election to the Australian parliament of a gay and lesbian rights advocate is also indicative of this generational change. It is also indicative of the maturity of the Australian Democrats as a party of representation and reform. Let us hope that as a nation we enter the new millennium a society not simply of greater tolerance but of greater acceptance. Finally, I offer my sincere thanks to the many thousands of Western Australian citizens who voted for me, and in doing so have asked me to represent them and their interests in the Senate through the prism of Democrats' policy and philosophy. I accept that challenge. In closing, I want to express grateful thanks to my parents, both of whom worked hard to provide better opportunities for their children, and to my partner, Keith, who taught me that the personal is political. Keith, never short of an opinion, knows exactly what is wrong with the world and what it is that politicians need to do to fix it—but then he is a cab driver, so you have got to expect that. I also express thanks to Lucy, for her unconditional love, but then she is a kelpie, so you have got to expect that too; to John, a fellow traveller who shares this journey with me; to Sophia, for teaching me that everything changes; to June, for pushing; to Melinda, for being there; to the Democrats, for their trust; to the Western Australian gay and lesbian community for its support; and to the late Chris Carter, a gay man and founding member of the Australian Democrats, who showed the way. |
Brian Greig 
Oscar Wilde 
© 1997-99 BEI