Media Release: 8 January 2013:
Send Sodomy Convictions to Buggery!
The Australian Democrats reiterate their call for state governments to expunge the criminal records of men convicted of sodomy under previous, antiquated laws.
“This is a fundamental civil liberties issue,” Democrats National President Darren Churchill said today.
“Homosexual sexual acts are no longer illegal anywhere in Australia, yet a small cohort of men are burdened with criminal records that can be used to discriminate against them.
“Premiers! Set these men free from the past wrongs done to them!
“We called for these criminal records to be expunged when the UK government magnanimously did so in September last year, yet nothing appears to have been happening in Australia to redress these wrongs.(See:http://www.democrats.org.au/news/index.htm?press_id=6774&display=1)
“I said then: ‘Australian states and territories have an obligation to further redeem the past wrongs imposed by bad laws and enforced by bigots by enacting new spent conviction legislation that erases the criminal record of gay men prior to the decriminalisation of homosexual conduct.’
“This issue remains alive today. It will cost nothing for the states to renounce narrow-mindedness and remedy this wrong,” Mr Churchill concluded.
Media Contact:
Darren Churchill
National President
darren.churchill@democrats.org.au
0412 196 473
Darren Churchill: Australian Democrats Campaigns 
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