Victoria’s Premier has apologised for the ‘abominable’ laws that criminalised homosexuality in Australia. Daniel Andrews stood in Victoria’s Parliament and delivered a groundbreaking apology for the laws, saying “On behalf of the government, the parliament and the people of Victoria, for the laws we passed, and the lives we ruined, and the standards we set, we are so sorry. Humbly, deeply sorry.” The law criminalising homosexuality was overturned in 1981 and men could not only be charged for homosexual acts, but for the “thought crime” of loitering with homosexual intent. Andrews apologised to the men who are no longer alive and whose convictions are “engraved upon their place in history.” The opposition leader told Parliament that homosexual men were physically tortured as a result of the laws."The shock treatment, the frontal lobotomies, the incarceration at asylums, not to mention the physical beatings and ostracisation – this was all for the crime of being homosexual in Australia.” Six men in the State have been successful in their application to have their historic conviction expunged since the law was changed in 2014. Andrews delivered his speech in front of a number of men who were affected by the laws including 84-year-old Noel Tovey who told reporters "This is a really momentous day for me because I never thought I would live to see this day in Australia. I never thought I would actually get out of Pentridge [Prison] alive. "Finally the government of Victoria is seeing us as real human beings.” Tovey’s autobiography, Little Black Bastard, reveals his experiences as an indigenous gay man and the treatment he received in jail.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Wednesday, 25th May 2016 - 1:34pm