Queensland to waive historic convictions for homosexuality

The Queensland government has finally sought to obliterate the laws that convicted gay individuals for engaging in consensual homosexual acts. Yvette D’Ath, Queensland’s attorney general, said that the government requested the Queensland Law Reform Commission to suggest the best possible way to expunge past convictions.

“This is an important day,” the Guardian quoted D’Ath as saying. “This is long overdue. Queensland is one of the last states to take action in relation to historical homosexual convictions. This is about righting the wrongs of the past, laws that should have never been introduced.”

According to D’Ath, there were 464 convictions in Queensland for consensual gay acts, and 500 cases before the court. She said the commission would also be required to decide on other historical convictions such as rape, since a number of gay men have unwillingly admitted to engaging into non-consensual acts to protect their partners from facing the charges.

In 1990, the state decriminalisedhomosexuality. However, those who were convicted under the old homosexuality laws still hold conviction.

Alan Raabe, 61, who was convicted following a consensual homosexual act in 1988, said he could not pursue his dream profession of teaching due to the conviction.

"You become isolated in your shame and you want to hide this and one of the really interesting thing I've discovered is I'm only one of hundreds, what happened to me there's hundreds and hundreds of people out there who this has affected," the ABC quoted Raabe as saying.

He said he was grateful for the reforms and acknowledged the hard work that went behind it.

D’Ath said that those convicted under the law have lived in shame for too long and said the reform is about correcting the wrongs by eliminating the laws that should have never existed. Queensland is one of the last states to take actions in this regard, according to D’Ath.