Gay men targeted in anti-paedophile purge
WA's gay and lesbian lobby group has expressed alarm over Health Department plans to screen 25,000 employees for criminal records. Gay and Lesbian Equality WA (GALE) claims that gay men risk losing their jobs due to the state's age of consent for gay sex being 21.
The screening, due to commence in January, has been announced as the first step in a three-year plan to weed out paedophiles, according to health minister John Day.
It is a response to the Wood Royal Commission into police corruption in NSW. However, the chief recommendation of the Wood Royal Commission, which was to legislate to ensure that consent ages be equal for both homosexual and heterosexual people, has been ignored by the state government.
GALE welcomed the move to screen out genuine paedophiles but said WA's high age of consent would mean that gay men could be the victims of unfair laws that govern the state.
WA is the only state where it remains a criminal offence for consenting gay adults to have sex in private, a law that remains in conflict with the Commonwealth Human Rights (Sexual Conduct) Act 1994.
The age of consent for heterosexual relations is 16.
GALE spokesperson John Derry said WA had the highest age of consent for gay men in the world. "Western Australia's archaic anti-gay laws state that all gay men under the age of 21 are considered to be criminals, and face up to five years in jail.
"This means a 22-year-old gay man in a consenting relationship with his 20-year-old boyfriend can be charged with sexual offences against a minor, branded a paedophile, and sacked from his job if he works in the WA Health Department."
The cost of the screening is expected to be around $625,000.
[Reprinted from West Side Observer, Perth's gay and lesbian community newspaper]