Facts and Figures

• Current Federal, State and Territory law provides only limited protection against discrimination. State and Territory laws lack uniformity. Major differences arise in terms of how sexuality is defined and whether presumed sexuality as well as actual sexuality is covered. There are differences in the range of exceptions and exemptions allowed for by each State and Territory with legislation.

• Discrimination issues for gay men and lesbians include: employment; superannuation; compensation; leave and other entitlements; education; accommodation; health; age of consent laws; vilification and violence; and recognition of same-sex relationships.

• Same-sex couples may be recognised to some degree for the purposes of superannuation, immigration and defence force entitlements. However, these areas of law are still not equal. Further Federal laws exclude same-sex relationships in areas such as: taxation; Medicare; parenting and family law social security; veterans’ affairs; and marriage law.

• A 2002 Victorian report showed that experiences of homophobic discrimination led to significant health inequalities for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBTI) people. These experiences created lower self-esteem, vulnerability, increased risk-taking behaviours (including substance abuse) increased levels of all forms of abuse, and poorer mental health.

• A 2005 survey of 1749 same-sex attracted Australians aged 14 to 21 showed that “homophobic abuse had a profound impact on young people’s health and wellbeing ... those who had been abused fared worse on almost every indicator of health and wellbeing than those who had not”.

• In May 2006, the Australian Capital Territory became the first Australian jurisdiction to pass controversial laws that would treat gay couples in civil unions in the same way as married couples. However, the Federal Government overturned the Territory laws on 1 August 2006.

• The first country to allow gay marriages was the Netherlands, which did so in April 2001. Belgium, Canada and South Africa have followed suit, while others, including Denmark, Germany, France, Switzerland and several US states, have introduced civil unions or domestic partnership systems.

• According to a 2005 Australia Institute study, 35% of the population aged 14 years and above believes that homosexuality is immoral; nearly 43% of men and 27% of women take this view.

• In 2004 a report commissioned by the NSW Attorney- General’s Department showed that violence against gay men and lesbians had changed little in the last ten years. Key findings included: during the previous 12 months 56% of homosexual people experienced homophobia or violence; during their lifetime 85% of gay men and lesbians experienced harassment or violence; one in four gay men and lesbians has been physically attacked sometime in their life.

• When homophobia is the motive for violence against gay men or lesbians it is called a hate crime. The most common homophobic hate crime is street-based violence.

• Anti-gay and anti-lesbian violence can include: verbal assaults; ongoing harassment or intimidation; physical violence; and sexual harassment or assault.

• A 2003 NSW Attorney-General’s Department study found over 50% of participants had experience of violence, with three quarters of these having experienced two or more incidents. A Victorian study of GLBTI people showed that over 80% of participants had experienced public insult, 70% verbal abuse, 20% explicit threats and 13% physical assault (McNair and Thomacos, 2005). A national study of same-sex attracted young people (Hillier et al, 2005) showed 44% had been verbally abused and 16% had been physically abused.

• According to experiences of participants in the 2006 Private Lives Survey: 67.3% of participants indicated that fear of prejudice or discrimination caused them at least sometimes to modify their daily activities. Of those who modified their daily activities at least sometimes, 13.7% did so at home, 53.7% at work and 51.1% in social settings and 42.2% with their family and nearly three quarters (72.9%) in public. 90% of the sample reported that they had, at some time, avoided expressions of affection. The majority (87.6%) of the sample had at some time avoided disclosure of their gender identity or sexuality, and some of these instances are clearly with health care providers.

• More than 70% of gay people in Victoria have been verbally abused, a survey says. It found that the more open people were about their relationship, the more likely they were to have been abused. The survey of 650 gay men and lesbians found almost 20% had received explicit threats and 13% had been physically assaulted.

• 90% of gay and lesbian Australians still in some way curb public affection for partners and almost 60% have experienced verbal abuse, the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society at La Trobe University found. The study, the biggest of its kind in Australia, canvassed 5500 gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. Almost three-quarters reported past depression and nearly half reported at least one sign of a major depressive episode. Suicidal thoughts were found to be higher than among heterosexuals – about 16% in gay men compared with 10% of heterosexual men.

• The 2005 report, Writing Themselves In Again: 6 years on, shows 76% of the young people said they felt “great” or “good” about their sexuality, compared with 60% in the earlier survey. And 95% had told someone about their sexuality, against 82% in the first survey.