A Queer Kind of Law: The Senate Inquires into Sexuality

Abstract

This article examines sexuality anti-discrimination law in Australia. In particular, it focuses on a recent law reform proposal, the Sexuality Discrimination Bill 1995 (Cth.) and a parliamentary inquiry into that Bill. It analyses the Bill as reinscribing heteronormativity, and analyses the inquiry process as producing extremely oppositional visions of sexual identity. It also analyses the submissions to the inquiry, in order to illustrate what lesbians and gay men thought should be included in the Bill. Finally, it addresses the relationship between queer theory and legal activism.