Legal to Murder a Gay Person for Flirting?

Change.org

Is it really murder to kill a gay man who flirts with you? One law in Australia says it isn't.

Sign Father Kelly's Petition

-

"Yeah, I killed him, but he did worse to me."

In 1997, a man in Queensland, Australia killed a gay man who he claimed flirted with

him by bashing his head into a wall and stabbing him to death.

Today, "gay panic" is still a legal defense for murder in Queensland that can result

in lesser charges.

In fact, just two years ago, a man was brutally killed in a Queensland churchyard,

and his killer used the "gay panic" defense in court. He was subsequently acquitted

of murder.

Father Paul Kelly is a priest in the parish where that man was killed, and

he started a petition on Change.org

 demanding that Queensland abolish the gay panic defense. It looked like Father Kelly's

petition was headed for victory,

but now there's a new Premier in Queensland, Campbell Newman, and he won't say whether

he will abolish the gay panic loophole.

Father Kelly thinks it's crucial to build quick international pressure on Premier

Newman, particularly from important Australian allies like the US --

click here to add your name to Father Kelly's petition demanding that Queensland abolish the gay panic defense.

A recent study named Queensland as Australia’s most homophobic state --

73% of gay and lesbian Queenslanders are subjected to verbal abuse or physical violence

for their sexuality

. Father Kelly believes that if the gay panic defense stands, Queensland's gay community

will be forced to live in terror knowing that the law is on their tormentors' side.

"The support from people in Australia for my petition has been wonderful," Father

Kelly says, "

but we need help from our friends in the US.

 We need to send Premier Newman a message that he is being watched, and we will not

tolerate this despicable gay panic loophole."

Click here to sign Father Kelly's petition demanding that Queensland abolish the legal loophole that justifies the murder of gay people.

Thanks for being a change-maker,

- Michael and the Change.org teamorg

   |

Start a petition

Unsubscribe.

I don't intend to make a gibit of using other people's writing as a substitute for my own posts.  But Some things just Have to be Stopped!  The problem is that there are so Many of them.  Again, the organization will have to be found via Google to make the links work.

What ever happened to saying "I'm straight, no thanks, NO, or get the hell away I already Said NO?