Pink Triangle
By Miranda Morris
University of NSW Press, $26.95
Reviewed by Fiona Carnes
"Damned in the eyes of the world" was the headline on the front page of the Hobart Mercury following the decision of the United Nations Human Rights Committee that Tasmania's anti-homosexual laws breached international standards on human rights.
The appeal to the UN by gay activist Nick Toonan was made possible by Australia becoming a signatory to the first optional protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which allows individuals to take complaints of human rights violations directly to the Human Rights Committee. As Miranda Morris' book details, the appeal to the UN, and its favourable decision, was by no means the beginning of the struggle for gay rights in Tasmania, nor does it signify the end.
The laws at the centre of the fight were sections 122 and 123 of the Tasmanian criminal code which prohibit "unnatural sexual intercourse" and "indecent practices between male persons". These laws, the legacy of the Tasmania's history of a penal settlement, foster discrimination and violence against homosexuals and justify homophobic attitudes — according to Tasmanian Legislative Council member George Brooks, the laws should be "a little more draconian" so that a few more homosexuals would be influenced "to take the plane north".
Pink Triangle follows the fight for gay rights in Tasmania from its humble beginnings in the Gay University Students' Organisation (GUSTO), to the international condemnation of Tasmania following the UN decision. One of the major events in the history of the Tasmanian gay movement was the protest campaign at Salamanca Market in 1988 when the TGLRG (Tasmanian Gay Law Reform Group) was banned from having a stall. The city council declared that those who staffed the stall were to be banned from the market for life, and any known homosexual or anyone displaying the words "lesbian", "gay" or wearing a pink triangle anywhere in the market could be arrested. Hobart's Lord mayor, Alderman Doone Kennedy said that there was "one law for heterosexuals and one law for homosexuals".
Defiance of the ban on a weekly basis for about three months resulted in 130 arrests, but on December 9, 1988, the eve of Human Rights Day, the ban was lifted.
For many, this period was one of excitement, seeing a small gay community emerging in Tasmania. But there was also fear that coming out publicly would result in job loss, alienation from family and friends, and discrimination.
Morris recounts the anti-gay rallies held in 1989 which exposed the bigotry and hatred that could result from misinformation and extreme religious fervour.
At one rally the crowed screamed "kill 'em, kill 'em" at the gay activists present and talk of the homosexual conspiracy to undermine the moral fabric of society and the "gay agenda" to infiltrate schools and legalise paedophilia was rife.
Pink Triangle also covers the debate surrounding HIV/AIDS, which attempted to remove the issue of law reform from the contentious realm of morality and place it in the health arena. In an attempt to repeal sections 122 and 123, the Labor Party introduced an HIV/AIDS preventative measures bill in 1989 based on the idea that penalising homosexuality impedes "programs promoting safer sex to prevent HIV transmission".
In December 1990 the bill was debated in the House of Assembly and passed to the upper house in July 1991 where it was rejected. Having anticipated this result, the TGLRG, (now the Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Rights Group) looked to the UN. In his submission, Toonan alleged the Tasmanian laws contravened his rights not to be discriminated against, to privacy and to equality before the law. Twenty-eight months after Toonan's submission, the UN's decision was handed down on April 11, 1994.
Following the UN's decision, the issue of gay law reform degenerated into a states rights issue. Despite the international condemnation of Tasmania's anti-homosexual laws and the existence of federal laws to override them, sections 122 and 123 still remain on the criminal code.