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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-05-12 Daily Xml
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International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Intersexism and Transphobia

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (15:59): I move:

That this council—

1. Recognises 17 May as the International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia, Intersexism and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT);

2. Acknowledges that Monday 17 May 2021 marks 31 years since the World Health Organization removed homosexuality from the classification of diseases and related health problems;

3. Condemns the ongoing discrimination faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer South Australians;

4. Opposes anti-LGBTIQ conversion practices, recognising the significant and lasting damage they cause to the health and wellbeing of LGBTIQ people; and

5. Commits to working toward acceptance and inclusion of all LGBTIQ people.

The purpose of the motion is pretty simple; it is to reaffirm our parliament's opposition to homophobia, biphobia, intersexism and transphobia and commit to working towards equality for all South Australian citizens.

It does so recognising the approaching IDAHOBIT, the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Intersexism and Transphobia. I suspect probably at least half the members of this house will recall that I have spoken on IDAHO at least a couple of times before and even IDAHOBIT once. I think IDAHO first commenced as an international day of commemoration in Canada some years ago and it has slowly grown in prominence as an international day of commemoration around the world. It has also slowly grown in terms of the additional letters of the alphabet we have added to the acronym.

It falls on 17 May each year, the anniversary of the removal of homosexuality from the World Health Organization's international classification of diseases and related health problems in 1990. Essentially, it is about the rejection of hate, the kind of hate that leads to gay bashing, the kind of hate that leads to the murder of trans people around the world, and the kind of hate that we saw just last week with the so-called honour killing of a young 20-year-old man called Ali Fazeli Monfared in Iran.

It is worth reflecting on, I think, when all of our lifetimes, and certainly within the parliamentary career of the Hon. Mr Lucas, homosexuality was recognised by the World Health Organization on the list of diseases. The removal of homosexuality from that list was a very important step, a very influential step, indeed, in terms of helping us launch a series of reforms in this country and around the world on the way towards equality.

South Australia was once at the forefront of that charge but is no more. However, just this week we have commemorated the 49th anniversary of the death of Dr Ian George Ogilvy Duncan on the banks of the River Torrens: 49 years on, that crime has not yet been solved. Those who threw Dr Duncan into the river and ended his life still have not been brought to justice.

Dr Duncan should not have died but his death did, at the very least, act as a catalyst in this place for change. Within months of his death, this place would pass some very narrow defences, but welcome nonetheless, for gay men to the crimes of homosexuality. That is, if you drew the curtains and could argue that it was happening in your own private bedroom you should not be arrested by police. That is not something that we would be satisfied with now, but for its time it was a leap forward. In 1975, with the support of the Dunstan government, our state would be the first in the nation to decriminalise homosexuality when Peter Duncan, the Attorney-General, took that legislation through the lower house.

We may have lost our status as a first mover on LGBTIQ rights but we have made important advances in recent years. I particularly acknowledge the passing of amendments to the Spent Convictions Act in 2013, strengthened again just last year; Premier Jay Weatherill's historic apology to the LGBTIQ community in 2016; and the passing of substantial law reform in 2016.

To summarise those changes very briefly, they were led by a groundbreaking report from the South Australian Law Reform Institute, ensuring that transgender people can have their true identity recognised on their birth certificates; equalised access to assisted reproductive treatment and adoption; and recognise same-sex relationships under the law, in a time before marriage equality eventually became the law of the land. That report from SALRI also led to one of our most recent advances, the abolition—finally—of the gay panic defence. I have already acknowledged the Attorney-General Vickie Chapman, in the other place, for this great reform.

These are good and great achievements. Bit by bit we are pulling apart a system of discriminatory laws and building a framework for the inclusion of all people regardless of their identity in our society. But that work is not over. This parliament has yet to confront the issue of so-called conversion practices. These practices, which seek to change, alter or suppress a person's gender identity or sexual orientation, are rooted in the same discriminatory ideology we have spent so many years working to bring down. It is important that we acknowledge this and that we acknowledge that conversion practices do not always meet the expectations people may hold.

Exorcisms and electroshock therapy have occurred, particularly in years gone by. Thankfully, they are not pre-eminent these days, but recent research has showed us, particularly the Preventing Harm, Promoting Justice report by the Human Rights Law Centre and Latrobe University suggests that those practices, at least, being less common, other practices have taken their place.

The challenge confronting us is now much more insidious. Conversion ideology can be found in some religious communities, usually on the fringes, against the teachings and wishes of mainstream churches. Survivors describe being told that they are broken, that their sexuality or their gender identity is not just sinful but a sign that something has gone wrong in their life and needs to be repaired. This ideology teaches that same-sex attraction or transgender identity can be fixed and that continuing to experience these things is simply a sign that they are still broken.

It is bad enough that this is untrue, but what makes these practices truly dangerous is the harm they do to people who are coming to terms with their sexual identity. The Preventing Harm, Promoting Justice report, among other research, documents this damage graphically. Mental health issues, suicide, depression, anxiety, social isolation: conversion ideology causes lasting and often lifelong damage to victims.

This is upheld by the anecdotal evidence of these victims as presented in this place in a forum that we had, I think it was last year. Conversion practices are causing harm to gay and lesbian and transgender kids right now, today in our state. This is not news. In 2019—it was 2019, not last year—I hosted a forum here at Parliament House on so-called conversion therapy. We heard directly from survivors and advocates about the harm being caused to members of our community. I know my colleague the member for Hurtle Vale in the other place, Ms Nat Cook, has been working hard on how we can best tackle this issue in South Australia.

So this IDAHOBIT, this day of commemoration, I would like to encourage members to turn their minds to the next frontier. After the success of a years-long campaign for marriage equality, some seem to think that LGBTIQ equality has been won; we can stop now and not talk about it anymore. But I would like to assure members that it is not over. The battle has not been won.

Year 2020 statistics from the National LGBTI Health Alliance reveal that 16 per cent of LGBTIQ young people aged 16 to 27 have reported attempting suicide, rising to 48.1 per cent among transgender and gender diverse young people. In the recent fourth edition of La Trobe University's Writing Themselves In report, 40.8 per cent of participants reported experiencing verbal harassment in the past 12 months based on their sexuality or gender identity, and 9.7 per cent reported physical harassment or assault.

Even beyond the harm of conversion practices, there are many challenges our parliament and our government need to face, like the chronic underfunding of the Women's and Children's Hospital gender clinic, leading to enormous wait times for health care for our trans community members; like the discrimination faced daily by LGBTIQ people accessing health care and the desperate need for many GPs to better understand issues of sexuality and gender diversity; or like the fact that our Equal Opportunity Act continues to exempt religious bodies from needing to comply with anti-discrimination protections and that our equal opportunity commissioner is still underfunded and under-resourced to carry out the work that is demanded of her office; and like the many other barriers and hurdles faced by LGBTIQ people in simply living their day-to-day lives and being their authentic selves.

In recent commemorations of the death and legacy of Dr Duncan there has been much discussion about this Legislative Council and how this chamber was once dominated by conservative ideology which blocked reform for so many long years, delaying the decriminalisation of homosexuality in our state. I would like to acknowledge my friend the Hon. Anne Levy, who successfully led the debate on decriminalising homosexuality in this place in 1975. Hansard records her words in introducing this ultimately successful bill:

I contend that our present law with regard to homosexual behaviour is neither humane nor compassionate. It causes unnecessary suffering, and serves no useful purpose. Indeed, it makes criminals of thousands of otherwise law-abiding citizens, and it makes a mockery of our social value of minority and individual rights.

I am glad that the council agreed with the Hon. Anne Levy on that third and final occasion of attempting to reform the law. Today, we have been at the forefront of more recent examples of social law reform. I am very pleased that many of us in this chamber have voted to support those changes, but it is in that spirit that I ask all honourable members to support this motion to support our LGBTIQ community, particularly our young ones, and to continue the work of ending discrimination against that community.

The Hon. R.A. SIMMS (16:09): I rise in support of this motion and I thank the Hon. Ian Hunter MLC for putting this forward for the chamber's consideration. May 17 is International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Intersexism and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT day). For me, it is an opportunity for us to reflect on how far we have come, but also, as the honourable member stated in his remarks, it is a time for us to reflect on the work that is yet to be done.

On Monday, I had cause to reflect on how far we have come when I joined the Hon. Ian Hunter and other members of this parliament at the commemoration of the death of Dr George Duncan. It was 49 years this year since Dr Duncan, a law academic at the University of Adelaide, was murdered and thrown into the River Torrens. It is, of course, a terrible travesty that those killers have never been brought to justice.

As has been outlined, we know that it was that tragic event that intensified public pressure and eventually forced legislative change to occur in South Australia. South Australia became the first state in our nation to decriminalise homosexual acts—a breakthrough moment for South Australia. We have achieved an awful lot since then, but there is lots of work to do.

I echo the comments made by the Hon. Ian Hunter regarding conversion therapy. This is an issue of grave concern for the Greens. Those practices are abusive. This idea that you can lead somebody to change their sexuality is not supported by any evidence and it actually puts vulnerable young people in a really invidious position. It compounds their stress and anxiety and has a range of terrible health outcomes, so that is something that this parliament needs to work to scrap as an urgent priority.

I would also draw members' attention to anti-discrimination laws, which I understand are subject to state government review at the moment. Currently, religious organisations have exemptions to those laws, and I think it is appalling that religious organisations have the capacity to discriminate against gay, lesbian and transgender people, including students and teachers. That is wrong.

Organisations that take public funding—take public money—should not get a 'get out of gaol free' card when it comes to anti-discrimination laws. That is something that needs to change and I look forward to those reforms coming to this parliament for consideration because it is time for South Australia to say that all South Australians, irrespective of their gender identity or their sexuality, are equal before the law. We should not be allowing religious organisations to continue to shirk their responsibilities under the law.

I also want to draw this chamber's attention to the ongoing persecution of LGBTI people that is occurring overseas. As the Hon. Ian Hunter stated, just last week there was the tragic murder of Ali Fazeli Monfared in Iran. Mr Monfared was a 22-year-old gay Iranian man who was allegedly killed in an honour killing by some of his male family members after they found out that he was gay, according to the Iranian Lesbian and Transgender Network. I want to read out some of the facts in relation to that case, simply because it is important for us to reflect as a chamber on the appalling circumstances faced by many LGBTI people overseas and the need for all levels of government to take any action they can to advance the rights of LGBTI people.

This young man was allegedly killed in what was referred to as an 'honour killing'. I am quoting from the article of NBC by Jo Yurcaba, dated 12 May 2021. He received an exemption card in the mail from the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps after disclosing his homosexuality, but one of his male relatives found it and discovered that he was gay.

The organisation reported that the relative had previously told this man's father that the young man had dishonoured his family due to the way that he dressed. After finding the exemption card, a group of male relatives took Fazeli Monfared to a rural village on 4 May and killed him. The card and the exemption for homosexuality as a disease put this man in danger.

The organisation 6rang, which is an organisation that advocates for LGBTI people in Iran—again, this is NBC reporting—said that the alleged killers, after the atrocious murder had taken place, called the man's mother and told her where to find her only son's beheaded body. This is horrific and sadly a reminder of the hate crimes that we see unfolding in many places around the world. I am also reminded of the persecution of LGBTI people in Russia and the appalling persecution of LGBTI people in Chechnya, so we do need to do whatever we can to address that ongoing human rights abuse.

In concluding, as part of IDAHOBIT we celebrate what has been achieved and the great law reform work that has been done in our state, but we also reflect on the work yet to be done—the need to get rid of conversion therapy as a priority, the need to strengthen our anti-discrimination laws so that all South Australians are equal before the law and the need for our federal government to call out appalling human rights abuse of LGBTI people around the globe and to do what they can to advance the rights of LGBTI people not just in Australia but internationally.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. I. Pnevmatikos.

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