By Kath Gelber
Tasmanian gay rights activists are stepping up their campaign for the repeal of the state's archaic anti-gay laws. Despite the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) finding that Tasmania's laws are in breach of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the state Liberal government is refusing to repeal the laws.
Over the past two weeks, gay activists have challenged police to implement the law as it stands. Rodney Croome, Jason Rostant, Roland Sinn and Richard Hale have all presented themselves to the Hobart police, statutory declarations in hand, "confessing" to having had private sex with men. These "confessions" make them liable to be charged under the Criminal Code, which prohibits sex between men.
Lesbian activist Lavinia Savell "confessed" to aiding and abetting the crime by allowing Rostant and his boyfriend to sleep together at her house.
Jason Rostant from the Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Rights Group told Green Left Weekly the campaign is aimed at highlighting the farcical situation faced by the state government. If it is to enforce the law, it will have to charge the four men who have confessed under Sections 122 and 123 of the Criminal Code, the sections condemned by the UNHRC.
The fact that none have yet been charged is evidence enough of police unwillingness to tackle the issue. The police are coming under pressure to enforce the law. If the gay men are charged, this will lend huge visibility to the campaign to repeal the laws. Amnesty International has said that if the men are charged, they will be formally recognised as prisoners of conscience.
On the other hand, if the law is not enforced it becomes clear that it is unworkable. Those who defend the retention of the anti-gay laws will find it very difficult to combat the argument that if the laws are totally unworkable, they should be repealed.
Rostant said it is possible that the men will be charged, in which case they could be put in a cell for one day, and then released to put a plea to the magistrate's court.
If they go to the Supreme Court for sentencing, the maximum possible sentence, although "an extremely remote possibility", according to Rostant, is 21 years' jail. The last time someone was charged under the relevant sections of the Criminal Code in 1981, he was fined $50.
The federal government is also under pressure to override the state's anti-gay laws. Federal attorney-general Michael Lavarch said immediately after the UN decision that no urgency existed since no-one was currently being affected. If the four men are charged, this will no longer be the case.
Rostant pointed out that, even if the federal government does intervene, an ongoing campaign will still be required to actually repeal Sections 122 and 123.