About this site

The Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Rights Group is a community-based organisation campaigning for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender human rights in Tasmania.

The TGLRG led the successful 1988-1997 campaign for gay law reform in Tasmania, as well as subsequent campaigns for state anti-discrimination and same-sex relationship laws.

For more about these historic campaigns visit our archives.

Its ongoing activities include parliamentary lobbying, media liaison, community education and direct action. It has a commitment to visibility and community empowerment.

The Group continues to campaign for LGBT law and policy reform in Tasmania and nationally.

To find out more about what we're up to read on...

Applause for Senator's endorsement of transgender human rights

This media release was issued by the Australian Coalition for Equality on 28.8.08.

Transgender advocates have welcomed support for the recognition of gender identity in federal law by newly-elected WA Labor Senator, Louise Pratt.

In her inaugural speech delivered yesterday, Senator Pratt, whose partner is a transgender man, said,

“I look forward to a time when my partner isn’t denied a passport because his gender’s not recognised under our laws."

Australian Coalition for Equality spokesperson, Martine Delaney, said recognition in areas like passports is an urgently needed reform.

"The issue of transgender identity documentation has been on the agenda of the Standing Committee of Attorneys-General for some years, with no commitment shown to its resolution."
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'Non-discriminatory' surrogacy report welcomed / call to end continued legal bias against gay parents

This media release was issued by the TGLRG on 26.8.08.

Tasmanian gay activists say they are pleased a State Upper House report on altruistic surrogacy does not limit surrogacy to heterosexual couples, and have called on the report's principles of non-discrimination to apply to other areas of state parenting law.

Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Rights Group spokesperson, Rodney Croome, said that a surrogate mother should be able to choose a recipient couple on the basis of their ability to parent, not their gender.

"If a friend of family member of a same-sex couple wishes to give that couple the gift of parenthood, that is her right", Mr Croome said.

"We are pleased the inquiry into surrogacy has affirmed principles of equality and non-discrimination when it comes to parenting generally and surrogacy in particular."
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Rally for marriage equality hears stories of exclusion / discrimination

This LGBT media release was issued by the TGLRG on 20.8.08.

Supporters of marriage equality have been told that excluding same-sex couples from marriage is part of their broader exclusion from families and society.

On Saturday about 40 supporters of equality gathered on Parliament Lawns in Hobart to hear speakers condemn the federal ban on same-sex marriage.

Rally spokesperson, Rose Matthews, said the speakers were some of the passionate she has heard for a long time.

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Red Cross ignores concerns from experts / AMA

This media release was issued by the TGLRG on 19.8.08.

The Australian Red Cross has ignored the expert opinion of its chief medical advisor on low risk sexual activity between men.

The revelation came today during the cross examination of Dr Brenton Wylie, the primary Red Cross witness in the Tasmanian gay blood donor case initiated by Launceston gay man, Michael Cain.

According to documents presented to the Tasmanian Anti-Discrimination Tribunal by Mr Cain's lawyer, Peter Tree SC, the Red Cross's chief epidemiological advisor, Dr John Kaldor advised in 2001 that,

"based on current epidemiological evidence, there is no justification for excluding donors on the basis of oral sex".
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AIDS expert says it's time to screen donors for risky sex in partner's gender

This media release was issued by the TGLRG on 20.8.08.

An Australian AIDS expert has told the Tasmanian inquiry into the gay blood ban that it is time for donors to be screened for risky sexual activity, not their partner's gender.

Mr Bill Bowtell, who was senior advisor to Australian Health Minister, Dr Neal Blewett, when all gay men were initially barred from blood donation in 1983, and is widely seen as the architect of Australia's successful response to HIV/AIDS, today told the Tasmanian Anti-Discrimination Tribunal that it is time for potential donors, homosexual and heterosexual, to be screened for risky sexual activity such as unprotected anal intercourse.

Mr Bowtell said advances in blood testing and the growing need for safe blood mean it is in the public interest to allow blood donation from low-risk gay men.
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HIV infection from gay blood donation likely "once every 5769 years"

This media release was issued by the TGLRG on 15.8.08.

The Tribunal hearing a case against the Australian Red Cross gay blood ban has been told that if the current bar on gay blood donation is lifted, a single HIV-positive blood donation from a gay man will slip through clinical screening in Tasmania once every 197 years.

If only gay men who have safe sex are allowed to donate, as sought by the man who initiated the current gay blood ban challenge, Michael Cain, that figure decreases to once every 5769 years.

The startling figures were put by Mr Cain's lawyer, Peter Tree SC, during today's cross examination of Canadian risk assessment expert and Red Cross witness, Dr William Leiss, and were based directly on statistics provided to the Tribunal by Dr Leiss.
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1 in 100 Australian blood recipients risk death from old blood

This media release was issued by the TGLRG on 14.8.08.

An expert witness in the Tasmanian gay blood donor case has claimed that the death rate from transfusing blood stored longer than 14 days may be 1 in 100.

The claim has been made by Dr Scott Halpern in evidence to the Tasmanian Anti-Discrimination Tribunal, and is based on highly-regarded research recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

According to the Red Cross's own figures 13% of blood available for transfusion in Australia is older than 14 days.
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Bio-ethicists address gay blood donor hearings

This media release was issued by the TGLRG on 13.8.08.

Two bio-ethicists today addressed the inquiry underway in Tasmania into gay blood donation.

Dr Scott Halpern and Dr Leslie Cannold gave evidence to the Anti-Discrimination Tribunal about ethical and epidemiological issues at stake in the case, including the right of potential blood recipients to a plentiful and safe blood supply and the onus of proof on the Red Cross to justify its gay exclusion policy.

Dr Halpern, who is a bio-ethicist and epidemiologist at the University of Pennsylvania and a consultant to the US Centre for Disease Control and the US Food and Drug Administration, put the claims of the Red Cross about "increased risk" from blood donation from gay men in perspective.
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Gay blood inquiry here's that safe sex works / Gay blood ban compared to ban on Jews / Aborigines

This media release was issued by the TGLRG on 12.8.08.

An inquiry into the current ban on gay blood donation has heard that safe sex is effective in reducing HIV risk.

Social researcher, Associate Professor Anne Mitchell, today told the Tasmanian Anti-Discrimination Tribunal that risky sexual activity is not as widespread amongst gay and bisexual men as some studies suggest.

"The most compelling evidence of all for the effectiveness of safe sex is the simple fact that...when safe sex was taken on by men who have sex with men (msm) the escalation in infection rates was pegged back", Professor Mitchell said.

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