Archive Article

Discrimination

Anti-Discrimination Board's website has a great deal of information on discrimination and your rights.

The Legal Information Access Centre regularly puts out a plain English booklet on legal rights and issues called Hot Topics. This focused on Discrimination in September 1998.

Despite advances in gay and lesbian rights, lesbians and gay men are not equal in Australia. Discrimination takes many forms with common problems including unequal laws, media bias, prejudice in the workplace and harassment at school and in the streets.
For a basic fact sheet on discrimination against gay men and lesbians, and for other fact sheets dealing with various areas of discrimination, check the column on the right.

GLRL and the Australian Centre for Lesbian and Gay Research conducted research into workplace discrimination involving some 900 lesbians, gay men and transgender people resulting in the report, The Pink Ceiling is Too Low (1999) which showed that workplace discrimination was very prevalent. A more basic GLRL fact sheet on workplace discrimination is also available.

Young gays and lesbians are frequently harassed at school and work and may be discriminated against by teachers, peers or employers. GLRL's fact sheet on Gay and Lesbian Youth touches upon some of these issues and provides contacts for young people.

In NSW (and many other states) discrimination on the basis of homosexuality is prohibited in employment, public education, the provision of services and some other situations. Complaints can be made to the Anti-Discrimination Board (ph (02) 9268 5555 or 1800 670 812).
You may want to seek legal advice if you have been discriminated against. For information about free legal advice and assistance, check out the Legal Information Access Centre's (LIAC) referral guide.

In 1995 the Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby prepared a discussion paper to canvass some of the issues relating to a proposed Commonwealth Act to outlaw discrimination against lesbians, gay men and transgender persons.
The paper deals with the need for such legislation; the power of the Commonwealth to pass legislation dealing with sexuality related discrimination and the form that any legislation should take.
GLRL continues to lobby for federal anti-discrimination legislation which is needed in order to cover Federal issues, rectify gaps in State legislation and ensure that State governments do not themselves discriminate.