| LGBT rights in Victoria | |
|---|---|
Victoria (Australia) |
|
| Same-sex sexual activity legal? | Legal since 1980 |
| Gender identity/expression | Yes |
| Recognition of relationships |
Statewide relationship register since 2008 |
| Adoption | No, however step parent adoptions allowed. |
| Discrimination protections | Yes |
While Victoria was at the forefront of the gay rights movement in the 1960s and 1970s, it has never taken the lead in gay rights legislation. Gay sex between men was legalised in 1980. Discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation was outlawed in 2000. Victoria has a Domestic Partnership Register, which was launched in December 2008. Assisted reproductive technology or ART, IVF, artificial issamination, altruistic surrogacy and parentage rights have been legally available for both same-sex couples and single people since January 2010. However Victoria as with some other states does not allow same-sex couples to jointly adopt children, but started allowing step parent adoptions in 2008.
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Gay activism in Australia began in Victoria, particularly in Melbourne. An Australian arm of the Daughters of Bilitis was formed in Melbourne in 1969, and is considered Australia's first gay rights organisation. The Melbourne-based gay rights organisation Society Five was formed in 1971.[1] Additional rights organisations followed, including the Homosexual Law Reform Coalition in 1975 and the Gay Teachers Group in the late 1970s[2], both of which were also based in Melbourne.
The gay community was keenly monitoring events in South Australia surrounding the decriminalisation of homosexuality which took place between 1972 and 1975. In 1976, The Age reported that police had used entrapment to make mass arrests at Black Rock Beach which angered the gay community and gave the issue wide public attention. Amidst the storm of protest and debate, widespread support for the decriminalisation of male homosexual acts surfaced within the political mainstream.[3][4]
It was not until December 1980 that a law was passed (72-7) to decriminalise homosexuality.[5] The age of consent for gay men was set at 18 in 1980 and was not equalised to 16 until 1994 (14 years later) [1].
Since 2000, Victoria prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity under the Equal Opportunity (Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation) Act 2000 - which amended the Equal Opportunity Act 1995.[6][7]
In August 2001, the Statute Law Amendment (Relationships) Act 2001 and the Statute Law Further Amendment (Relationships) Act 2001 amended 60 Acts in Victoria to give same-sex couples, called domestic partners, some rights equal to those enjoyed by de facto couples, including hospital access, medical decision making, superannuation, inheritance rights, property tax, landlord/tenancy rights, mental health treatment, and victims of crime procedures[8].
In March 2006, independent Victorian MP Andrew Olexander proposed a private member's bill to allow civil partnerships in the state, but the state government would not allow it to be drafted by the parliamentary counsel.[9]
The city of Melbourne provided a "Relationship Declaration Register" for all relationships and carers starting in April 2007. While the register does not confer legal rights in the way traditional marriage does, it may be used to demonstrate the existence of a de facto relationship in relation to the Property Laws Act 1958, the Administration and Probate Act 1958 and other legislation involving domestic partnerships.[10][11][12] The city of Yarra launched its Relationship Declaration Program the following month. Under the program two people may declare that they are partners and have this declaration recorded in the Yarra City Council Relationship Declaration Register.[13]
In December 2007, Victoria's parliament introduced the Relationships Bill 2007, to allow same-sex couples register their relationships state-wide with the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages. This bill also amends 69 other pieces of legislation to include couples who are in registered relationships.[14] The Bill was passed by the Victorian Legislative Assembly, or lower house on 12 March 2008. All Labor MPs who were present voted in favour, 24 MPs voted against the bill, 54 voted for it.[15]. The Legislative Council, or upper house, voted in favour of the bill without amendments on 10 April 2008. Approved and given Royal Assent by the Governor on 15 April, the relationships register came into operation by 1 December 2008.[16]
In May 1988, Victoria became the first State in Australia in which a child was born by use of IVF surrogacy. In July 1988, sections 11, 12, and 13 of the Infertility (Medical Procedures) Act 1984 were commenced to prevent a repetition of IVF surrogacy in Victoria, by prohibiting the use of IVF technology on women who have not been diagnosed as infertile and rendering commercial and altruistic surrogacy arrangements void.[17] In addition, only women who were married were allowed to access IVF treatment. Then in 1997, women in de facto relationships with men were allowed access to IVF treatment under the Infertility Treatment (Amendment) Act 1997 [2].
On 28 July 2000, re McBain v State of Victoria, Justice Sundberg of the Federal Court of Australia concluded that the Victorian legislation infringed the prohibition on discrimination found in section 22 of the Sex Discrimination Act. This eliminated any marriage requirement, but did not clearly address the medical needs requirement. This legal decision has opened the door for lesbian couples to use IVF procedures.[18][19]
In June 2007, the Victorian Law Reform Commission released its final report recommending that the laws be modified to allow more people to use assisted reproductive technologies and to allow same-sex couples to adopt and be recognized as parents to their partner's children.[20] The proposed changes would also mean drastic reforms to surrogacy which, while technically legal, was practically impossible in Victoria: a woman would no longer have to be clinically infertile to be a surrogate mother. In addition, parents who have children through surrogacy would be able to go to the County Court and apply for a substitute parentage order for legal recognition.[21] Birth certificates could use the word parent instead of mother and father.[22]
Victoria is expected to adopt almost all of the 130 recommendations of the Victorian Law Reform Commission in legislation which was introduced to Parliament in September 2008.[23] This will make IVF legal for all women (except sex offenders), and gives parents of surrogate children, including female same-sex partners, greater parenting rights.[24] Altruistic surrogacy would become legal, while commercial surrogacy would remain illegal. The Government stopped short of allowing same-sex couples full adoption rights.[25] According to the draft bill, the surrogate mother will be presumed to be the mother of the child unless or until a substitute parentage order is made in favour of the commissioning parents.
The lower house voted 47-34 to support the contentious Assisted Reproductive Treatment Bill 2008, with all Coalition members voting against it.[26] After passing the upper house by just two votes, the bill was amended and had to go back for another vote in the lower house and then passed the lower house. The passed bill then got assented on 4 December 2008. The law became effective from 1.1.2010 [3].
Assisted Reproductive Treatment Bill 2008 Passed - Assented 4/12/08
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