Get real Brendan. People who have been bashed to within an inch of their life would still agree with me that the psychological component of homophobia is still far worse.

that is why they are constantly looking over their shoulder and shuddering at the thought of having to confront groups of unknown people, for years after they have recovered from their injuries.

And Jason,

Since when has trust the public has in a government system never been abused???

The majority of Centrelink employees may not be malicious, but it only takes one to make a person’s life hell. That’s why so many civil libertarians don’t like lots of data on people being held by authorities in one place.

Because someone will ALWAYS abuse their authority. Just because it’s no you or me, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be speaking up about it.

I wonder how many people who have been bashed within an inch of their life would agree with you.

Stick and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me?

The worst thing about homophobia, isn’t bashings, but social isolation and ostracism.

The pyschological effects have a much higher toll. Broken bones heal, but being spat at, humiliated and having your life turned into hell by your neighbours is alot more difficult to recover from.

Maybe the greedy relative in Centrelink will be less inclined to press a pillow against old Uncle Wally’s face if they discover it ain’t gonna fast track any inheritance.

Do you really think that the data is secure? I’ve known people who worked at Telstra who looked up my details. Plenty of cops have been busted looking up car registration details of celebrities.

What’s to stop a Centrelink employee looking up the details of their elderly uncle (who they are looking to get a huge inheritance from) – or their neighbour that they think complains about their noisy disruptive bogan kids too much?

The problem with the law is that it is only a band aid solution that can’t undo the damage that has been done to a victim once someone breaks the rules.

Homophobia is still very real – despite the government making these half hearted changes – and can have devastating effects on people, particularly elderly people who are already vulnerable.

It’ll be little consolation that the employee was “disciplined” when your neighbours give you grief over being gay, or your family ostracizes you or your partner because they feel cheated from a sure thing.