LGBT rights in the Northern Territory
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons in
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
's
Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...
enjoy the same legal rights as non-LGBT residents. The liberalisation of the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (
LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...
) people in Australia's Northern Territory has been a gradual process. Homosexual activity was legalised in 1983, with an equal age of consent since 2003. Same-sex couples are recognised as
de facto relationship ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...
s. There was no local
civil union A civil union (also known as a civil partnership) is a legally recognized arrangement similar to marriage, created primarily as a means to provide recognition in law for same-sex couples. Civil unions grant some or all of the rights of marriage ...
or
domestic partnership A domestic partnership is a legal relationship, usually between couples, who live together and share a common domestic life, but are not married (to each other or to anyone else). People in domestic partnerships receive benefits that guarantee r ...
registration scheme before the introduction of nationwide same-sex marriage in December 2017, following the passage of the ''
Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Act 2017 The ''Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Act 2017'' (Cth) is an Act of the Parliament of Australia, which legalises same-sex marriage in Australia by amending the '' Marriage Act 1961'' to allow marriage between two persons o ...
'' by the
Australian Parliament The Parliament of Australia (officially the Federal Parliament, also called the Commonwealth Parliament) is the legislature, legislative branch of the government of Australia. It consists of three elements: the monarch (represented by the ...
. The 2017
Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey The Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey was a national survey designed to gauge support for legalising same-sex marriage in Australia. The survey was held via the postal service between 12 September and 7 November 2017. Unlike voting in ...
, designed to gauge public support for same-sex marriage in Australia, returned a 60.6% "Yes" response in the territory. LGBT people are protected from discrimination by both territory and federal law, though the territory's
hate crime A hate crime (also known as a bias-motivated crime or bias crime) is a prejudice-motivated crime which occurs when a perpetrator targets a victim because of their membership (or perceived membership) of a certain social group or racial demograph ...
law does not cover sexual orientation or gender identity. The territory was the last jurisdiction in Australia to legally allow same-sex couples to adopt children.


History

Prior to European contact, there were no known legal or social punishments for engaging in homosexual activity. Sex seems to have been a very open topic among the
Indigenous people Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
. Among the
Arrernte people The Arrernte () people, sometimes referred to as the Aranda, Arunta or Arrarnta, are a group of Aboriginal Australian peoples who live in the Arrernte lands, at ''Mparntwe'' (Alice Springs) and surrounding areas of the Central Australia regi ...
(who live on the lands around
Alice Springs Alice Springs ( aer, Mparntwe) is the third-largest town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Known as Stuart until 31 August 1933, the name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William Whitfield Mills after Alice, Lady Todd (''née'' Al ...
), sex plays were particularly ubiquitous, even among young children who would play "mothers and fathers" in a very literal sense. They would typically mimic the sex acts they saw their parents and other adults perform. These acts seem to have been performed regardless of sex. Traditions of "boy-wives" also existed where young boys, typically 14 years of age, would serve as intimate servants of older men until they reached the age of initiation, at which point the young man would have his penis subincised. The Indigenous people did not have the typical Western view of heterosexuality and homosexuality. The
Tiwi Islands The Tiwi Islands ( tiw, Ratuati Irara meaning "two islands") are part of the Northern Territory, Australia, to the north of Darwin adjoining the Timor Sea. They comprise Melville Island, Bathurst Island, and nine smaller uninhabited islands, wi ...
have the highest per capita population of transgender people in Australia. 5% of the Tiwi population identifies as transgender (also locally called sistergirls or
brotherboy Gender variance or gender nonconformity is behavior or gender expression by an individual that does not match masculine or feminine gender norms. A gender-nonconforming person may be variant in their gender identity, being transgender or non-bina ...
s ( Tiwi: )). Similar identities exist among other Northern Territory indigenous peoples: among the Arrernte, among the
Pitjantjatjara The Pitjantjatjara (; or ) are an Aboriginal people of the Central Australian desert near Uluru. They are closely related to the Yankunytjatjara and Ngaanyatjarra and their languages are, to a large extent, mutually intelligible (all are vari ...
and the Luritja, among the
Warlpiri people The Warlpiri, sometimes referred to as Yapa, are a group of Aboriginal Australians defined by their Warlpiri language, although not all still speak it. There are 5,000–6,000 Warlpiri, living mostly in a few towns and settlements scattered thr ...
, among the
Pintupi The Pintupi are an Australian Aboriginal group who are part of the Western Desert cultural group and whose traditional land is in the area west of Lake Macdonald and Lake Mackay in Western Australia. These people moved (or were moved) into the ...
, and among the
Warumungu The Warumungu (or Warramunga) are a group of Aboriginal Australians of the Northern Territory. Today, Warumungu are mainly concentrated in the region of Tennant Creek and Alice Springs. Language Their language is Warumungu, belonging to the ...
. While largely accepted by their communities, they face higher instances of rape and domestic violence.


Laws regarding same-sex sexual activity

The Northern Territory became self-governing in 1978 and the unicameral territory Parliament, headed by the conservative
Country Liberal Party The Country Liberal Party of the Northern Territory (CLP) is a centre-right political party in Australia's Northern Territory. In local politics it operates in a two-party system with the Australian Labor Party (ALP). It also contests federal ...
Government, passed the territory ''Criminal Code Act 1983'' in October of that same year. This code legalised some homosexual sex acts between consenting adult males in private, though imposed a consent age of 18 for such acts, as opposed to an age of 16 for heterosexual sex acts.Gay law reform in Australian States and Territories: Northern Territory pp. 48-49
/ref> The code furthermore banned homosexual anal sex and similar acts which were done "in public", defined as occurring within the presence of only one or more observer. Age of consent equalisation laws were achieved via the ''Law Reform (Gender, Sexuality and De Facto Relationships) Act 2003'', which went into effect in March 2004.


Historical convictions expungement and apology

The
Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...
was the second last Australian jurisdiction to introduce legislation providing for a scheme allowing people who have previously been convicted of consensual homosexual sex acts the right to apply to have their conviction deleted, or expunged. Following a story on the subject appearing on
Triple J Triple J (stylised in all lowercase) is a government-funded, national Australian Radio in Australia, radio station intended to appeal to listeners of alternative music, which began broadcasting in January 1975. The station also places a greate ...
's popular youth radio program ''
Hack Hack may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Games * ''Hack'' (Unix video game), a 1984 roguelike video game * ''.hack'' (video game series), a series of video games by the multimedia franchise ''.hack'' Music * ''Hack'' (album), a 199 ...
'', a spokesperson for the Northern Territory Labor Government stated it was soliciting advice on the topic and that "every Territorian has a right to dignity and respect." On 21 March 2018, the Government introduced a bill into the
Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
. The bill would establish an expungement scheme in line with the schemes in other states and territories. The bill passed the Legislative Assembly on 8 May and received
royal assent Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in other ...
on 23 May 2018. The law, known as the ''Expungement of Historical Homosexual Offence Records Act 2018'', went into effect on 14 November 2018. The law's passage was accompanied by a formal apology to the territory's LGBTI community for past discriminatory laws by
Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union terri ...
Michael Gunner Michael Patrick Francis Gunner (born 6 January 1976) is an Australian politician and was the 11th Chief Minister of the Northern Territory from 2016 to 2022. He is a Labor member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly, having held his se ...
, which was supported by Opposition Leader
Gary Higgins Gary John Higgins (born 26 May 1954) is an Australian former politician. A member of the Country Liberal Party, he was elected to represent the seat of Daly in the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly at the 2012 election. After the 2016 e ...
.


Recognition of same-sex relationships


De facto unions

The Northern Territory is one of two jurisdictions in Australia not to offer relationship registries or official domestic partnership schemes to same-sex couples, the other being
Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...
. Cohabiting same-sex couples can be recognised as living in a
de facto relationship ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...
, which cannot be registered but can be recognised by a court declaration for certain purposes. De facto recognition was made possible following the ''Law Reform (Gender, Sexuality and De Facto Relationships) Act 2003'' amending the territory's ''De Facto Relationships Act 1991'' to define ''de facto'' relationships as "2 persons...not married but have a marriage-like relationship". This definition for the first time in the territory resulted in
LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...
people having a mechanism in local courts to resolve property disputes with their ex-partners. Prior to this reform, the non-financial contributions of a same-sex partner to a relationship could not be recognised in the same way as marriage or heterosexual de facto relationships. This could lead in some cases to a non-working partner not being able to obtain an appropriate property settlement.Law Reform Act Notes
/ref> Such reforms have since made it possible for same-sex couples in the NT to have most of the entitlements as married partners. It also provides for de facto partners to make certain legal agreements relating to financial matters between the partners and ex-partners. In 2009, the then-Attorney General,
Delia Lawrie Delia Phoebe Lawrie (born 30 July 1966) is an Australian politician. She was a member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly from 2001 to 2016, representing the electorate of Karama. She was a Labor member from 2001 to 2015, and served ...
, referred the matter of
relationship register A relationship register is an alternative to marriage that provides legal proof of a relationship. This may be useful in issues relating to tax, retirement accounts, government payments, immigration or medical emergencies. Most states and territori ...
s to the Northern Territory Law Reform Committee, who declined to make a recommendation on the form that relationship recognition should take.


Same-sex marriage

Same-sex marriage became legal in the Northern Territory, and in the rest of
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
, in December 2017, after the
Federal Parliament The Parliament of Australia (officially the Federal Parliament, also called the Commonwealth Parliament) is the legislative branch of the government of Australia. It consists of three elements: the monarch (represented by the governor-gen ...
passed a law legalising same-sex marriage.


Adoption and parenting rights

Adoption law in the Northern Territory is governed by the ''Adoption of Children Act 1994''. Prior to the legalisation of
same-sex adoption Same-sex adoption is the adoption of children by same-sex couples. It may take the form of a joint adoption by the couple, or of the adoption by one partner of the other's biological child ( stepchild adoption). Joint adoption by same-sex cou ...
in April 2018, the Act stipulated that territory courts "shall only make an order for the adoption of a child in favour of a couple where the man and woman are married to each other and have been so married for not less than 2 years". An informal review of the territory's adoption laws was believed to have been undertaken by then Minister for Children and Families
John Elferink Johan Wessel Elferink (born 24 September 1965) is an Australian politician. He is a former member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly for the Country Liberal Party. Early life Elferink was born in the Netherlands and moved to Austr ...
in November 2015, though no legislative reforms were made prior to the 2016 general election. Following that election, the territory's first gay indigenous MP
Chansey Paech Chanston James "Chansey" Paech (pronounced "CHAN-see PAKE"; born 1987) is an Australian politician. He is a Labor Party member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly since 2016, representing the electorate of Namatjira until 2020 and E ...
called for the Northern Territory to legalise same-sex adoption, indicating that some Cabinet ministers had already indicated their support to him. In October 2017, the Government pledged to introduce legislation into the
Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
by the following month which would allow same-sex couples and unmarried couples the right to adopt children. It introduced such a bill to the Legislative Assembly on 23 November 2017. The bill was sent to the Social Policy Scrutiny Committee, which recommended that the Assembly pass the bill. It was approved by the Assembly on 13 March 2018, with
independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...
member
Gerry Wood Gerard Vincent Wood (born 5 April 1950) is an Australian politician. A former mayor of the Northern Territory shire of Litchfield, he was an independent member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly from 2001 to 2020, representing the el ...
the only MP to speak against the bill. The bill received
royal assent Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in other ...
on 19 April 2018, becoming the
Adoption of Children Legislation Amendment (Equality) Act 2018
', and commenced the following day. With respect to the right of single people to adopt, territory law allows this only in "exceptional circumstances". Northern Territory law makes no mention of commercial or altruistic
surrogacy Surrogacy is an arrangement, often supported by a legal agreement, whereby a woman agrees to delivery/labour for another person or people, who will become the child's parent(s) after birth. People may seek a surrogacy arrangement when pregnan ...
arrangements, making both practices technically legal in the state, however, no clinics provide surrogacy services due to the lack of regulation.
Assisted reproductive technology Assisted reproductive technology (ART) includes medical procedures used primarily to address infertility. This subject involves procedures such as in vitro fertilization (IVF), intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), cryopreservation of gametes o ...
(ART) treatments like
sperm donation Sperm donation is the provision by a man of his sperm with the intention that it be used in the artificial insemination or other 'fertility treatment' of a woman or women who are not his sexual partners in order that they may become pregnant by hi ...
are small in comparison to other states and territories, though it is believed lesbian couples in the Northern Territory have been accepted by clinics for ART treatments. Female de facto partners of pregnant women are treated under territory law as legal parents of any children born as a result of that birth. On March 31, 2022 the “Surrogacy Bill 2022” was formally introduced to the
Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
- to legally allow children from surrogate parents and other parental agreements to be enforceable that implies formal recognition on
birth certificates A birth certificate is a vital record that documents the birth of a person. The term "birth certificate" can refer to either the original document certifying the circumstances of the birth or to a certified copy of or representation of the ensuin ...
(to be uniform and consistent with all other jurisdictions across within Australia). This legally applies to individuals as well as couples of any sexual orientation and/or marital status. Same-sex couples for example, will no longer have to legally adopt their own children - which can take many years of both
red tape Red tape is an idiom referring to regulations or conformity to formal rules or standards which are claimed to be excessive, rigid or redundant, or to bureaucracy claimed to hinder or prevent action or decision-making. It is usually applied to g ...
and
court orders A court order is an official proclamation by a judge (or panel of judges) that defines the legal relationships between the parties to a hearing, a trial, an appeal or other court proceedings. Such ruling requires or authorizes the carrying out of ...
. The bill passed the
Parliament of the Northern Territory The Parliament of the Northern Territory is the unicameral legislature of the Northern Territory of Australia. It consists of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly and the Administrator of the Northern Territory, who represents the Governo ...
a month later (becoming the Surrogacy Act 2022 formally by the NT administrator) and went into legal effect on December 20, 2022.


Discrimination protections

The ''Law Reform (Gender, Sexuality and De Facto Relationships) Act 2003'' helped remove legislative discrimination against same-sex couples in all areas of territory law – with the exception of same-sex adoption which was eventually legislated in April 2018. The Act removed distinctions based on a person's gender, sexuality or de facto relationship in approximately 50 acts and regulations. The ''Anti-Discrimination Act 1992'' protects territory residents from discrimination on the grounds of sex and sexuality, amongst a host of other attributes, covering the areas of education, work, accommodation, goods and services, facilities, clubs, insurance and superannuation. Transgender residents are covered under the category of "sexuality", which is defined as "the sexual characteristics or imputed sexual characteristics of heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality or transsexuality". There are exemptions in place for "religious educational institutions", which are entitled to discriminate on the basis of religious belief or sexuality in the area of employment. Federal law also protects LGBT and
intersex Intersex people are individuals born with any of several sex characteristics including chromosome patterns, gonads, or genitals that, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical bina ...
people in the Northern Territory in the form of the ''Sex Discrimination Amendment (Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Intersex Status) Act 2013''. In November 2022, a bill passed the unicameral NT Assembly to repeal all religious exemptions for religious based schools within the NT in place since 1996 and to also legally protect both teachers and students within religious schools on the basis of sexual orientation from discrimination. The bill also explicitly includes sexual orientation, gender identity and sex characteristics. The bill is "the most comprehensive and robust" anti-discrimination legislation to ever pass within Australia (along with Tasmania). The bill also repeals outdated terminology, phases and words no longer in usage. In December 2022, the NT Administrator formally assented the bill into law as an Act. The legislation is due to come into effect from 2024.


Northern Territory schools

In April 2022, it was reported by various media that schools within the Northern Territory would soon become "legally banned from using such words of - boy, male, man, girl, female and also woman". The Northern Territory government released "legally based guidelines" for LGBT gender-neutral inclusive language - to be implemented within Northern Territory schools soon.


Transgender rights

Transgender individuals are entitled to have their name and birth certificate amended to reflect their gender identity and transgender status. Following the federal legalisation of same-sex marriage in December 2017, the Northern Territory followed several other states and territories in updating their laws relating to
transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...
people. On 29 November 2018, the
Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
passed a bill that removed the requirement for one to be unmarried before being able to apply to legally change their gender. In addition, the bill removed the requirement for
sex reassignment surgery Gender-affirming surgery (GAS) is a surgical procedure, or series of procedures, that alters a transgender or transsexual person's physical appearance and sexual characteristics to resemble those associated with their identified gender, and alle ...
to be undertaken before a person's gender on their
birth certificate A birth certificate is a vital record that documents the birth of a person. The term "birth certificate" can refer to either the original document certifying the circumstances of the birth or to a certified copy of or representation of the ensuin ...
can be amended, and also allows an option for a non-gender specific descriptor (" X") to be registered on a certificate. The removal of the surgery requirement was opposed by
radical feminist Radical feminism is a perspective within feminism that calls for a Political radicalism, radical re-ordering of society in which male supremacy is eliminated in all social and economic contexts, while recognizing that women's experiences are al ...
Anna Kerr from the Feminist Legal Clinic due to the risk that it could be used for "nefarious purposes" by some men. On the opposing side, Transgender Victoria executive director Sally Goldner argued the change would help remote indigenous transgender people (sistergirls and brotherboys), who lacked access to medical facilities. The change was also supported by the territory's anti-discrimination commissioner, who suggested it should have gone further and moved from a medicalised model (where a clinician's involvement is still required) to a self-identification approach to gender. The bill received royal assent on 5 December 2018 and commenced the following day. Access to trans-related healthcare services is limited in the Northern Territory, with transgender children's families generally travelling interstate to access services. The territory has been criticised by transgender advocates for placing transgender women in men's prisons, increasing the risk of rape, murder and suicide.


Intersex rights

In March 2017, representatives of
Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome Support Group Australia Intersex Peer Support Australia (IPSA), also known as the Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome Support Group Australia, is possibly the oldest known intersex organization, established in 1985. It provides peer and family support, information and advo ...
and
Organisation Intersex International Australia Intersex Human Rights Australia (IHRA) is a voluntary organisation for intersex people that promotes the intersex human rights, human rights and bodily autonomy of Intersex rights in Australia, intersex people in Australia, and provides educatio ...
participated in an Australian and Aotearoa/New Zealand consensus "Darlington Statement" by intersex community organizations and others. The statement calls for legal reform, including the criminalization of deferrable
intersex medical interventions Intersex medical interventions, also known as intersex genital mutilations (IGM), are surgical, hormonal and other medical interventions performed to modify atypical or ambiguous genitalia and other sex characteristics, primarily for the purposes ...
on children, an end to legal classification of sex, and improved access to peer support. Besides male and female, Northern Territory birth certificates and identification documents are available with an "X" sex descriptor.


Summary table


See also

*
Transgender rights in Australia Transgender rights in Australia have legal protection under federal and state/territory laws, but the requirements for gender recognition vary depending on the jurisdiction. For example, birth certificates, recognised details certificates, and dr ...
*
Intersex rights in Australia Intersex rights in Australia are protections and rights afforded to intersex people through statutes, regulations, and international human rights treaties, including through the ''Sex Discrimination Act 1984'' (Cth) which makes it unlawful to d ...
*
LGBT rights in Australia Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights in Australia have advanced over the latter half of the twentieth century and early twenty-first century to make Australia one of the most LGBT-accepting countries in the world, with opinion ...
*
Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey The Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey was a national survey designed to gauge support for legalising same-sex marriage in Australia. The survey was held via the postal service between 12 September and 7 November 2017. Unlike voting in ...
*
Same-sex marriage in Australia Same-sex marriage in Australia has been legal since 9 December 2017. Legislation to allow same-sex marriage, the ''Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Act 2017'', passed the Australian Parliament on 7 December 2017 and receiv ...


References


External links

{{Oceania topic, LGBT rights in Northern Territory law
Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...