|
PlanetOut News Staff
Thursday, November 16, 2000 / 11:26 PM
The Australian island finally removed a law from its books that had barred cross-dressing in the evening hours.
Just as Tasmania has moved since 1997 from having the worst laws for gays to some of the best of any Australian state, it has dramatically improved the legal situation for transgender people since 1998. The state Parliament took another key step on November 14, eliminating a 1935 prohibition against men dressing as women between sundown and sunset, along with a number of other obsolete statutes. Better yet, the move was actually initiated by the state government.
It is theorized that the law was first adopted either to make it harder for outlaws to use disguises to avoid arrests or to stop cross-dressing sex workers from soliciting World War II
service members. Although it has long been unenforced, the law had remained a justification for harassment and discrimination against transgender people, according to Gender Council of Tasmania spokesperson Roz Houston. She said, "In the eyes of most Tasmanians the Government's initiative is simply the overdue repeal of an amusing anachronism, but for transgendered folk it is the end of a legally sanctioned second-class status. To ensure there are no hitches in the law reform process we will be lobbying Upper House members about the damage this law has caused."
Tasmania's Anti-Discrimination Act of 1998 already prohibits both discrimination and incitement to hatred against transgender and transsexual people. Even those for whom drag is strictly recreational, as Reuters pointed out, can now "dress" for cocktails.
Source : Obtained from
planetout.com
|
|
