DATE: 4/12/94 LENGTH: 410 ID: UN0412 TYPE: NEWS
Copyright (c) 1994 by Keith Clark

UN Declares Sodomy Laws a Violation of Human Rights
by Keith Clark

HOBARTH, Tasmania State -- After repeated failed attempts to decriminalize
sodomy laws in the Australian island state of Tasmania, the United Nation
Human Rights Committee has declared legislation a violation of civil and
human rights under the UN Declaration of Human Rights.
   Details of the UN committee's decision were not immediately available,
but the lengthy six-year fight by gay rights activists in the
conservative, southern island state to topple sodomy laws there has been
given an enormous boost by the influential int ernational organization's
decision.
   The UN decision reported is based on the sexual equality provisions of
Article 2 in the Declaration of Human Rights, which states: "Everyone is
entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration,
without distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex, language,
religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property,
birth or other status."
   The UN committee's decision is the first of its kind from the
international body and could have significance for rights activists
elsewhere around the world where sodomy laws continue to block legal
reforms. Even in the United States, some two dozen st ates still have
anti-sodomy legislation on their books that now would technically also
fall under formal UN censure.
   Tasmania, a sparsely-populated island south of Melbourne, is the only
Australian state that still prohibits consenting homosexual activity.
Earlier in April, the Tasmanian parliament again rejected a move to repeal
the anti-gay law with the support of the ruling Liberal Party government.
   Attorney General Ron Cornish told the state parliament, "Tasmania is a
nice quite Christian-based place. They [Tasmanians] believe in the Bible
and don't like changes to the code."
   Cornish said that the UN Committee on Human Rights had no legal
jurisdiction in Tasmania's affairs and he did not believe the federal
government would legislate to override the state's criminal code.
   But Australian Justice Minister Duncan Kerr was more guarded about the
prospect and said the Commonwealth would wait for the UN decision before
considering what, if any action on the issue.
   Gerry Bates of the Tasmanian Green Party, which supports repeal of the
sodomy laws, said he hoped "the Commonwealth has the guts to take on" the
state government over the law.
   While rights activists agree that the UN would have very little ability
to take any further action concerning Tasmania's sodomy laws, there is a
general sense that the decision would probably be sufficiently
embarrassing to the Australian government for it to intervene.
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