Your Not From Around Here Are Ya Boy?

My last trip to Cairns, a city not far from mine, was in most respects pleasant. I spent my days ploughing through junk food, and reaching an almost comatosed state in front of the television, some of my favourite past times. However, one of my nights in the city was completely ruined when I learnt of something absolutely disgusting. My Dad had came home that night and told me about something that he had heard on Hack – a radio program on Triple J. The following day I was forced to find out if what I had learnt was true, and the all-knowing entity I like to call Google confirmed this for me. In Queensland, the state I live in, also known by the name of the “Sunshine State,” “The Land of the Wet and The Humid” or “Your Not From Around Here Are Ya Boy?” is home to a law called the Gay Panic Defence Law. Upon further research I discovered just exactly what this defence entails.

COME WITH ME ON A JOURNEY....

So, ladies I would like you to imagine that you have a penis. Yeah, yeah don't get carried away. Now, no matter what gender you belong to, I would like you to imagine you walk into a bar. No, I know what your thinking there isn’t an Englishman or Frenchman to be seen, and the bar man does not have some quirky comment waiting for you upon your arrival. No, in fact the bar man is actually a surly looking bloke by the name of Steve. Steve pours you a couple of drinks, and after awhile you notice yourself beginning to loosen up a bit.

A guy is sitting beside you. This guy looks fairly harmless, not quite as intimidating as the man pouring your drinks, but not too pooncy either. You strike up a conversation, and you two hit it off for quite awhile. The guy, who by know you have learnt is called Mark, offers to buy you a couple of rounds. Obviously, you have no objections. More drinks than you can remember later and this guy suddenly starts behave a bit strangely. He puts his arm on your shoulder, and gazes into your eyes. You quickly shrug this off. Then he puts his hand on your leg, and you begin to clue on to what is happening. His hand still on your leg he says the words you were dreading. “Want to come back to mine?” You panic, everything in the room begins to spin. You act on your first instinct and punch him in the face. Filled with rage you don’t stop, you just keep hitting him. He has fallen to the floor, you kick him and you hit him some more. You begin to calm a little, and realize that he is unconscious.

You run out of the bar in a flurried state, and the consequences of your actions are suddenly begin to flood your mind. Reaching the street corner you stop suddenly - “oh crap I’m going to jail.”

Well my friend that’s where you’re wrong! The gay panic defence law essentially allows a man to claim that he is suffering from what is called ‘gay panic,’ upon using physical violence against a gay man that has in some way propositioned him in order to minimize his sentence, even sometimes if this results in death.

For example the Ruks case - http://shirtliftersoftheworld.com/2009/11/gay-panic-defence-successfully-argued-in-former-murder-trial/.

This law doesn’t just stop at the borders of “Love They Neighbour and Thy Cousin” Queensland though. The concept of ‘gay panic’ was actually spawned in America. ‘Gay panic’ is a big topic, so I won’t go into the details, but, basically, it is considered to be a psychological disorder. Check it out:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay_panic_defense

Now, please correct me if you have drawn other conclusions upon reading this blog, but it seems to me that current Queensland law is basically feeding our public this message: “Homophobia getting you down? Bash a gay man today.” In fact, I believe this may even be a useful and effective strategy to be implemented into Gillard’s campaign trail. If you see her plugging her ‘solution’ for asylum seekers, or her response to Abbott’s education stimulus, ask her why she isn’t reaching out to the homophobic community in “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Queensland.

This law epitomizes so much that is wrong with our current justice system. Our law doesn’t recognize that homophobia is not and never shall be acceptable, and this needs to change.

Vote here: