Serkan Ozturk | SX News | 20 June 2011
Legal experts and LGBTI activists have this week expressed their concern at laws that continue to exist in NSW and Queensland which allow alleged murderers the option of using a partial defence of ‘non-violent homosexual advance’ as a reason for the death of a victim.
The calls come as a man currently facing a murder trial in Melbourne claimed that he killed his openly-gay housemate following a fit of rage after being propositioned for sex.
Earlier this month in Queensland, a petition sponsored by Brisbane MP Grace Grace was launched to lobby Attorney-General Paul Lucas to make further changes to the use of provocation in that state following the passing of the Criminal Code and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2010.
Lucas has suggested that the bill already enshrines that “no longer can mere words alone, including gay or straight advances, be sufficient for the defence of provocation, except in the most extreme and exceptional circumstances”.
However, a law expert from the University of Newcastle, Dr Alan Berman, told SX that he believes the legislation has failed to completely eliminate ‘non-violent homosexual advance’ as a defence.
“Most of the common law cases dealing with ‘non-violent homosexual advance’ defence involve more than a mere verbal proposition,” Berman said.
