Human sexuality is an integral part of life. Everyone has the right to their own sexuality, provided they do not harm others or violate their rights. All people have the right to unbiased and up to date information about sexuality, and to an environment in which they can make informed choices about their sexuality and take responsibility for their sexual health. Every one has a right to live free from discrimination and harassment based on their sexuality.

Human sexuality is also diverse. The majority of people find emotional and sexual fulfilment with members of the other sex. However, throughout human history and in every human society there are people who find fulfilment with members of the same sex, or with members of both sexes. How we express, understand and value these different sexualities has been influenced by social, religious and political beliefs in different cultures at different times.

Words, Attitudes And Actions

Since the middle of last century we have used terms like ‘heterosexuality’, ‘homosexuality’ and ‘bisexuality’ to describe the diversity of human sexuality. Since the 1970s homosexual people have often been referred to as gay if they are men or lesbian if they are women. At the same time words have been developed to describe discrimination against and hostility to people who are not heterosexual. ‘Heterosexism’ describes attitudes which ascribe a superior status to heterosexuality and heterosexual people. ‘Homophobia’ describes fear of and hostility towards homosexual people.

In contemporary Australian society there is a wide range of different attitudes to lesbian, gay and bisexual people. Compared to many countries we are relatively tolerant. But, in general, homosexuality is still less valued than heterosexuality and homosexual and bisexual people are treated less favourably.

This less favourable treatment can take many forms. At some stage in their lives most lesbian, gay and bisexual people experience discrimination, haras sment, abuse and even violence because of hostility to their sexuality. A 1998 survey done in Hobart found that 91% of the young women surveyed had been the subject of verbal violence whilst nearly one third (32%) had been the target of physical violence. Recent Australian studies have shown that because of hostility to their sexuality, and because of the isolation, fear and self loathing this hostility can cause, young lesbian, gay and bisexual people are three times more likely to seriously consider suicide than their heterosexual peers. They are also more likely to smoke, drink to excess, be involved with conflict with peers and parents, become homeless and leave school early.

Much of the discrimination and abuse which lesbian, gay and bisexual people experience in their lives occurs at school. According to a recent survey of 300 students at Hobart’s Elizabeth College 16% of students admitted to verbally or physically abusing other students because they thought those students were gay or lesbian. 8% of the students surveyed admitted to being verbally or physically abused because of their sexuality. This is not a problem which can be isolated to particular individuals or schools. Recent surveys show around 9% to 11% of students do not identify as heterosexual.

It is the aim of the Department of Education to promote better educational outcomes, and foster safer and more cohesive school communities by reducing the discrimination and harassment experienced by lesbian, gay and bisexual people within school communities. (see ‘Educational initiatives’ below)

Society’s Changing Attitudes To Sexuality

The historical context

Attitudes to people with same sex attractions have varied widely within and between different places and times. The only generalisation we can make is that homosexuality has been a recorded phenomenon in every human culture. In some cultures homosexuality has been tolerated, assigned a special status or even idealised. In traditional Native American and Polynesian societies homosexual men were given a special place as shamans. In some ancient Greek city states and in medieval Japan male homosexual relationships were encouraged amongst soldiers.

In other cultures homosexuality has been condemned and denounced. The ancient Jews and Chinese had strict laws against same sex relationships. As the Roman Empire declined, tolerance of homosexuality was replaced with draconian prohibitions against it.

In Europe attitudes to homosexuality have varied widely between places and times. From the sixth to the sixteenth centuries the regulation of sexual morality was in the hands of the Church. Biblical prohibitions against homosexuality were sometimes enforced to the extent that men who engaged in same sex relationships were put to death. But at other times attitudes were more tolerant. Up until the twelfth century special church ceremonies blessing same sex unions were held across Europe.

Because the Tasmanian legal framework is based on the British system it is important to trace attitudes towards homosexuality in England in order to understand our position here. A major turning point came in 1533 when Henry VII abolished the jurisdiction of church courts and enshrined the death penalty for sodomy in English secular law which was enforced with great severity. Lesbians could also be charged with sodomy at this period in history and both men and women engaging in homosexual activities were victims of the frequent witch burnings. It was during this period that some historians believe that sex between women became shrouded in silence and known as the ‘sin that could not be named’.

It was common when men were convicted of illegal homosexual activity that their crime was named in the hope of deterring other men from similar activity. However the crime was not elaborated on when it was between women. It was believed that women were weaker and more suggestible and it was feared that naming lesbian activities would encourage it.

By the middle of the nineteenth century the death penalty for sodomy was no longer enforced. In 1861 the penalties were reduced and in 1885 the scope of the law was broadened to include all homosexual activity. These ‘reforms’ resulted in a new wave of prosecutions against homosexual men and women throughout the British Empire, the most famous being the trials of Oscar Wilde in 1895 and Radcliffe Hall in 1928.

Because most history has been written by men and because criminal sanctions applied only to male homosexuality we know little about lesbian and bisexual women before the twentieth century. What we know of these women’s personal experiences has been found in literature, personal diaries and letters. The few exceptions to the invisibility of sexual relationships between women tend to be women in authority and writers including the ancient Greek poet Sappho, Queen Christina of Sweden and Queen Anne of England, Virginia Woolf, Vita Sackville and Gertrude Stein.

From the middle of the eighteenth century large urban centres such as London, Paris and later New York and Berlin saw the growth of communities of men and women who felt a common social bond based on sexuality. The First and Second World Wars led to the growth and politicisation of these communities through the mobilisation and relocation of large numbers of young men and women, who would not otherwise have come in contact with other homosexual people.

In the 1920s and then again in the 1940s and 1950s homosexual organisations began to appear and demand equal rights. In the late 1960s these demands were radicalised by the counter culture movement into calls for ‘gay liberation’. Since that time lesbian, gay and bisexual people in western countries have continued to make claims for legal equality and social acceptance. At some stages this has resulted in a backlash from people morally opposed to homosexuality.

During the 1990s the debate about homosexuality and gay and lesbian rights spread to both popular culture and the developing world.

In western countries an increasing number of prominent and popular figures are ‘coming out’ as gay or lesbian. These include sports people such as Martina Navratilova and Australian Rugby star Ian Roberts, performers such as Elton John, K. D. Lang, and actors such as Ellen DeGeneres and Nigel Hawthorn.

Meanwhile vocal lesbian and gay communities in Asian, African, South American and East European countries are successfully campaigning for a greater recognition of their rights.

Tasmania

Like other former British colonies Tasmania inherited criminal sanctions against male homosexuality. Contemporary Tasmanian attitudes to homosexuality have also been shaped by the use of the island as a convict prison in the first half of the nineteenth century. Same sex relationships were common amongst convicts in Tasmania. As a result, for much of Tasmania’s history fear and loathing of homosexuality and our convict past have been synonymous.

In the 1970s lesbian and gay organisations began to emerge in Tasmania. Many lesbians were challenging heterosexism from within the feminist movement of the 1970s. A challenge to the criminal sanctions against male homosexuality was issued by the formation of the Tasmanian Homosexual Law Reform Group in 1979.

The failure of repeated law reform initiatives led to the formation of the Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Rights Group in 1988. Over the next ten years the gay law reform debate featured prominently in the local, national and international media. Both sides of the debate mobilised thousands of Tasmanian citizens. The debate also involved Amnesty International, the UN Human Rights Committee, the Federal Government and the High Court.

In May 1997 Tasmania’s laws against homosexual sex were finally repealed, and the age of consent for homosexual and heterosexual sex was equalised at 17. Subsequently, in December 1998 the Tasmanian Parliament passed an Anti-discrimination Act which prohibits discrimination and incitement to hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation.

According to independent opinion polls the attitudes of Tasmanians have changed to keep pace with these legislative changes.

Educational initiatives in Tasmania

Because of these legal and social changes, school communities are now both permitted and expected to provide supportive teaching and learning environments for everyone in those communities regardless of their sexuality.

The Department of Education is committed to developing health promoting schools. In a health promoting school the ethos is supportive of each student’s emotional and social needs, regardless of that student’s sexuality.

The Department is also committed to eliminating all forms of discrimination, unfair treatment, verbal and physical abuse on the grounds of sexuality. This is the purpose of the Anti-Discrimination and Anti-Harassment Policy. The Department believes that discrimination and harassment on the grounds of sexuality is as serious as other forms of unfair treatment.

http://www.education.tas.gov.au/equitystandards/discrimination/support/homophobia.htm

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