Good news from Australia via Change.org:
The Queensland government has committed to closing the “gay panic” loophole used to defend murder. The changes will hopefully all but relegate the “gay panic” defense to the history books by making the defense invalid unless there are “exceptional circumstances”.
Comedian Stephen Fry / Photo: Marco Raaphorst
It’s an extraordinary victory — for Father Kelly, and all those who have been part of the explosion of support to eliminate the ”gay panic” defense in Queensland.
Father Kelly was shocked after seeing the defense used to defend a brutal killing in his Church’s courtyard. He couldn’t accept that such an archaic and openly discriminatory loophole still existed in Queensland — so he started a Change.org petition to have it wiped from the law books.
More than 25,000 people signed Father Kelly’s Change.org petition — with support coming from his local Member of Parliament and British comedian Stephen Fry. It sparked a media and social media furor that the government couldn’t ignore. The Attorney-General personally responded in an opinion piece on The Punch last week after front page coverage in the Courier Mail. On Tuesday the campaign was featured on The Project and ABC Radio National — and the government changed its stance the next morning.
For decades, governments have turned a blind eye to the “gay panic” loophole. Just last year, the Attorney-General changed laws surrounding the “gay panic” loophole, again failing to address it properly.
Let’s keep closing up any and all loopholes that allow for violence based on sexuality.
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About the author
Christine Garvin is a health writer who holds an MA in Holistic Health Education and is a certified Nutrition Educator. She writes for and edits the holistic health site, Living Holistically, and co-edits Confronting Love. She spends entirely too many hours on the computer each day, but squeezes in dancing hip-hop and bhangra and doing yoga as much as possible. An avid traveler, she lives just outside of Asheville, NC where new-age-meets-Billy-Graham. Follow her on Twitter @livingwholesoul or on her FB page.
