SA Parliament To Mark 50 Years Since Landmark Homosexuality Decriminalisation

South Australian parliamentarians are marking the 50th anniversary of the state’s landmark decriminalisation of homosexuality today, by re-enacting the speeches first delivered in 1975.

SA members and councillors from across party lines — including Ian Hunter, Michelle Lensink, David Pisoni, Lucy Hood and Robert Simms — are taking part in the reenactment, inside Parliament House.

Former Senator Robert Hill is participating in the place of his late father Murray Hill, as a tribute to the man introduced one of the earliest reform bills to decriminalise homosexuality.

The legislation decriminalising homosexuality in South Australia came into effect on October 2, 1975.

‘Politicians were arguing about whether I would grow up to be a criminal’

Hunter, a Labor legislative councillor and the first openly gay man elected to the South Australian Parliament, reflected on what it meant as a gay teenager to watch those debates unfold.

“Having been a young 15-year-old when the decriminalisation debate was happening in South Australia, knowing the politicians were arguing about whether I would grow up to be a criminal with no real future in this state, the passage of this law lifted a massive weight from my shoulders at the time and gave me hope that I might have a future after all,” he told The Advertiser.

Hunter said that SA Premier Peter Malinauskas asked him a year ago to to chair a committee which would organise this commemorative event, and that the committee had worked with LGBTQIA+ organisations on the events to celebrate the milestone.

Greens MP Robert Simms — the first openly gay man to represent South Australia in federal parliament, now a upper house MP — also paid tribute to the people who campaigned for change.

“For me personally, it’s also an opportunity to celebrate the bravery of those activists who fought to make decriminalisation of homosexuality possible 50 years ago. I wouldn’t have had the opportunities I’ve had in my life without their bravery and leadership,” Simms said.

How SA’s path to decriminalisation of homosexuality began

The path to change began in the early 1970s. In 1972, Liberal MP Murray Hill introduced a bill to amend laws criminalising homosexuality. It was followed three years later by Labor’s Peter Duncan, whose bill successfully passed in 1975 — making South Australia the first state to decriminalise homosexuality.

The tragic 1972 death of law lecturer Dr George Duncan is widely regarded as the catalyst for reform. Duncan was drowned in the River Torrens, which was a popular beat for homosexual and bisexual men at the time.

The case never officially solved, but it is commonly believed to have been a group of police officers. Three vice squad officers were charged with manslaughter in 1988 — two were acquitted, but the case fielded accusations of a cover up, as well as accusations that it was a common practice for vice squad officers to throw homosexual and bisexual men into the river.

In 1990, a police task force told the South Australian parliament that there was insufficient evidence to charge any person with the murder.

A $200,000 reward for tips on Dr George Duncan’s murder remains active to this day.