South Australia 'Worst' For Gay Couples

South Australia is the worst state in Australia for recognising the rights of same-sex couples, its most senior human rights advocate has told a national inquiry.
Equal Opportunity Commissioner Linda Matthews has called for urgent reforms to "modernise this state's equal opportunity reforms and bring them into line with the protections already available interstate".
In a written submission to the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, Ms Matthews said South Australia had slipped from being a world leader in law reform to the "last of all the states and territories in Australia" to recognise the rights of homosexuals and lesbians.
"We now find ourselves lagging behind the rest of the country with out-dated laws, including for both recognition of same-sex rights and protection against discrimination generally," her submission says.
Ms Matthews said complaints recently investigated by the SA Equal Opportunity Commission in recent times had included:
A lesbian being told by hospital staff that she could not see her female partner after a serious car accident because she "wasn't family".
Two parents asking a funeral director to ensure their son's homosexual partner did not attend his funeral.
A gay male couple in their fifties being refused a job in a motel because its owner wanted a woman behind its front desk.
Ms Matthews said around 80 per cent of complaints were made by men who experienced discrimination in their workplaces, while others came from gay people refused services because of their sexuality.
Gay school students also were increasingly being bullied, prompting the Equal Opportunity Commission to develop special resources for students and their teachers.
Ms Matthews said the South Australian gay community had been campaigning for almost a decade for legal recognition of same-sex couples. Legislation introduced into State Parliament in 2004 expanding the definition of de facto partners to include same sex couples had yet to be passed after being referred to a parliamentary committee.
"As a result, same sex couples in South Australia are virtually unrecognised in the law," she said.
The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission will hold a public meeting in Adelaide within the next few months as part of its inquiry into same-sex discrimination.
from The Advertiser