File Photo Victoria is wiping the criminal records of men who were convicted for having gay sex before law reform, the first Australian state to do so. Denis Napthine made the announcement yesterday, when he became the first premier to launch Melbourne glbti festival Midsumma. Gay sex was decriminalised in Victoria in 1981, before which men who had consensual sex with other men were convicted of crimes such as ''buggery'' and ''gross indecency with a male person'', restricting them from travelling, volunteering or applying for jobs. "This is a good piece of legislation," Napthine told reporters in Melbourne. "I'm surprised it's taken this long but this is fair and reasonable." Human Rights Law Centre advocacy director Anna Brown said deleting unjust convictions would help end shame endured by gay men unfairly burdened with criminal records. “Acknowledging these laws were wrong and legislating to abolish the left-over convictions will start to heal the harm these discriminatory laws have caused.” Other Australian states are now being urged to follow suit. In 2012, men in the UK with historical convictions for having consensual gay sex were able to apply to have them removed from official databases. New Zealand has never mass-wiped pre law reform gay sex convictions, however there is capacity for people to have their conviction 'disregarded' under the Criminal Records (Clean Slate) Act which came into force in 2004. They need to apply to a District Court in order to do so. This mechanism was recommended by the Justice and Electoral Committee, in part to ensure that old gay sex convictions could be concealed. GayNZ.com Daily News is looking into how many such convictions have been disregarded since 2004. Have you had an historical conviction wiped through the courts? Or one you think should be expunged automatically? If you would like to share your story email news@gaynz.com (we can leave your name out if requested).
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Tuesday, 14th January 2014 - 10:22am