Lesbians Seen As Fair Game As Revealed In Gay Hate Inquiry

An inquiry into unsolved LGBTQ+ deaths has revealed that lesbians were seen as “fair game” if they weren’t in the company of men, with violence being sparked when sexual advances were turned down.

Trigger Warning: This story discusses violence against lesbians and gay men which might be distressing to some readers. For 24 hour crisis support and suicide prevention call Lifeline on 13 11 14. For Australia-wide LGBTQI peer support call QLife on 1800 184 527 or webchat.

While New South Wales did decriminalised homosexuality back in 1984, lesbians are still suffering backlash for simply being who they are, according to former advisor on LGBTQ+ issues to the attorney general Carole Ruthchild.

“We didn’t have to hide – it wasn’t the 1950s – but being in public could draw attention,” Ruthchild said, as reported by the Guardian Australia.

“Whether you were outrageous or looked just like everybody else and they just happened to know … you couldn’t be out and open and not get a bad response.”

Serving as the first witness from the lesbian community, Ruthchild gave evidence at the NSW Special Commission of Inquiry into LGBTQ+ hate crimes.

Inquiry Into LGBTQ+ Hate Crimes

The inquiry is investigating historical hate crimes against the LGBTQ+ community, with a hard look at the large wave of homicides of gay men and other similar crimes in Sydney during the height of the AIDS epidemic in the 80s.

So far evidence presented at the inquiry has been related to violent acts against gay men.

Not only did she provide evidence at the inquiry, Ruthchild had also took part in the publishing of the Off Our Backs report back in 1992, a report that went into detail about lesbian experiences of violence.

One instance highlighted was the report of a young 23-year-old woman being attacked by a group of men who slashed her with a broken bottle and left her with serious lacerations.

A 22-year-old had been walking with her partner when a man decided to verbally harass her by shouting slurs such as “dirty f*cking dyke.” He then resorted to violence and punched her in the face, leaving her with a concussion.

The police had been called but after waiting for two hours, she had given up.

Lesbians Targeted In A Sexual Way

Ruthchild did note that the physical violence against lesbians were more on the “opportunistic” side rather than the deliberately targeted bashing of gay men.

“Men target women usually in a sexual way, so they usually persist in that in the way they target lesbians,” she said, as reported by the Guardian Australia.

And because lesbians were perceived as “available” if there wasn’t a man in their group, they were seen as “fair game.”

“Even if you were with another woman or several women, men seemed to think it was their right to come and want to buy you a drink – as if we were just sitting there waiting for a man,” Ruthchild said.