The penalties for gay sex under the early Australian criminal laws were severe, albeit rarely prosecuted. The offence criminalised anal sexual intercourse between men, as well as bestiality, seeing these acts as similarly immoral.Ĭriminal laws have tended to remain silent on lesbian sex, focusing instead on men who have sex with men.
In 1533, The Buggery Act entered into British law, punishing what was called “ the detestable and abominable Vice of Buggery committed with Mankind or Beast“. The crime of buggeryĪustralia inherited its anti-homosexual laws from England. The history of homosexual law reform in Australia, and NSW in particular, is one of resistance against injustice and a recognition of the rights and dignity of LGBTIQ Australians.
