*Age Of
Consent & Legal Sexual Activity for the State of
18th August 2011 Email to Premier Bligh, Attorney-General
Lucas, MP Neil Roberts (Cc to Yahoo groups AusQueer
and ARCQ). In response to the 6th July 2011 letter
received from the Attorney-General’s Senior Policy Advisor Tess Bishop. I
write that:“Tess reiterates that the Government has no plans to act on equal age
of consent reform, however this was also the first time that any correspondence
from the Government had included an attempt to argue the case for their
inaction. Sadly Tess merely states the very obvious – that age of consent laws
exist to protect young children from harm, and that the Goss Labor Government
set a higher minimum age for anal intercourse when it otherwise decriminalised sex between men in 1990. She fails to
address the key reason why the age of consent ought be equal for all youth at
16 – which is that the Government’s own 1990
Parliamentary Criminal Justice Committee on Reforms in Laws Relating To
Homosexuality had officially specifically recommended that it be so. This
is Recommendation 7, the only one of the Report's 9 Recommendations which was
not applied in the resultant legislation.”
I
also declare: “All of the required public and expert
consultation has been done over 20 years ago to fully justify equal age of
consent reform in Queensland. The only reason I can see for the Government not
acting already is that they must not care enough about the welfare or rights of
same sex attracted youth - and while that seems to have been proven by the
stonewalling response by both the Beattie and Bligh led Labor
Governments for the last 11 years, I'd like to believe that reform is still
possible - and that logic and compassion will prevail.
So here's one more desperate plea for urgent, 20
years overdue, action to enact an equal age of consent at 16 - while you still
have the numbers to ensure passage of the Bill. If you fail to do this you
should all feel eternally shameful and personally responsible for any young gay
or bisexual men who are self-harmed, infected with HIV or who suicide, purely
because their Government insisted on defining the realisation of their sexual
desires as being a profoundly serious criminal offense.”
Email From: John Frame
[mailto:jvframe@ozemail.com.au]
Sent: Thursday, 18 August 2011 5:31 PM
To: Attorney - SMTP; Neil Roberts Nudgee
Electorate Office; The Premier; ausqueer@yahoogroups.com;
qld_lgbt_rights@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Please Stop Homosexual Discrimination in Queensland
To:
Premier Anna Bligh, Attorney-General Paul Lucas, my local MP Neil Roberts, and
to the Yahoo groups AusQueer and ARCQ
I am
forwarding to you a copy (further below) of a "Care2 Petition Site"
appeal for support, which expresses international outrage that the African
country Cameroon can imprison men for 5 years merely for consenting sexual
activity.
How
outraged would the world be if they knew that, for at least 11 years now, the
Queensland Government has flatly refused to amend its Criminal Code to remove
the 1990 law which imposes 14 years imprisonment for any young men aged 16 and
17 who have mutually consented to engage in sexual intercourse.
Every
other state and territory in Australia has acknowledged the logical and ethical
sense of a truly equal age of consent, regardless of gender or sexual
orientation, and all had the moral fortitude to have amended their Criminal
Codes by 2003. The Queensland Government's refusal to treat all youth with
equity under the law is in itself an act of criminal neglect.
There is
simply no reason which your Government can hold up to justify failing to enact
equal age of consent reform.
The most
recent communication which I have received from the Attorney-General's office
was a letter from Senior Policy Advisor Tess Bishop on 6th July 2011 (as per http://www.queerradio.org/AOC060711_ex_Tess_Bishop_DJAG.htm ).
Tess reiterates that the Government has no plans to act on equal age of consent reform, however this was also the first time that any
correspondence from the Government had included an attempt to argue the case
for their inaction.
Sadly Tess merely states the very obvious – that
age of consent laws exist to protect young children from harm, and that the
Goss Labor Government set a higher minimum age for anal intercourse when it
otherwise decriminalised sex between men in 1990.
She fails to address the key reason why the age of
consent ought be equal for all youth at 16 – which is that
the Government’s own 1990 Parliamentary Criminal Justice
Committee on Reforms in Laws Relating To Homosexuality had officially specifically recommended that it be so. This is
Recommendation 7, the only one of the Report's 9 Recommendations which was not
applied in the resultant legislation.
Majority Recommendation 7
of that Report (supported also by Chairman Peter
Beattie) was that:
THE COMMITTEE RECOMMENDS THAT THE AGE OF CONSENT
FOR HOMOSEXUAL ACTS IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE PRINCIPLES OF SEXUAL EQUALITY AND
ANTI-DISCRIMINATION BE THE SAME FOR MALES AS IT IS FOR FEMALES, IRRESPECTIVE OF
WHETHER THE SEXUAL ACT IS HETEROSEXUAL OR HOMOSEXUAL. (THIS PRINCIPLE IS
HIGHLIGHTED IN POINT ONE ON PAGE 60 OF THE (Criminal Justice) COMMISSION’S REPORT.)
The 1990
PCJC Report , on pages 44 – 50, justified Recommendation 7 by quoting from
the testimonies of experts and others who had participated in the Public
Hearings which were held on 6th
August 1990 and 7th
August 1990.
All of
the required public and expert consultation has been done over 20 years ago to
fully justify equal age of consent reform in Queensland. The only reason I can
see for the Government not acting already is that they must not care enough
about the welfare or rights of same sex attracted youth - and while that seems
to have been proven by the stonewalling response by both the Beattie and Bligh
led Labor Governments for the last 11 years, I'd like
to believe that reform is still possible - and that logic and compassion will
prevail.
So here's
one more desperate plea for urgent, 20 years overdue, action to enact an equal
age of consent at 16 - while you still have the numbers to ensure passage of
the Bill. If you fail to do this you should all feel eternally shameful and
personally responsible for any young gay or bisexual men who are self-harmed,
infected with HIV or who suicide, purely because their Government insisted on
defining the realisation of their sexual desires as being a profoundly serious
criminal offense.
Any reply
is welcome, a positive response is prayed for.
Yours
sincerely,
John
Frame
82 Main
Ave., Wavell Hts 4012 Australia
Ph: (07)
3350 1562 / 0409 501 561
http://www.queerradio.org/AgeOfConsent.htm
---"There
is no substitute for equality"---
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