5 Ways Victoria's New Equality Minister Is Making It Better for LGBT Aussies

It's a new day for same-sex couples and other LGBT citizens in the Australian state of Victoria, as its first-ever minister of equality takes office and promises prompt, sweeping reforms, according to local newspaper The Age.

Martin Foley, the state's new equality minister, was sworn in last weekend as part of the new Labor government, members of which just took their seats in Melbourne, the capital of Victoria and the nation's second-largest city. As minister of equality, Foley's sole task is to protect the rights and freedoms of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and intersex residents, reports The Age.

Just hours after being sworn in, Foley detailed a multifaceted agenda for how he plans to fulfill his new duties:

1) Equal Adoption Rights for Same-Sex Couples
Same-sex couples wanting to adopt children will no longer be discriminated against because of their sexual orientation, declared Foley.

Under current law, same-sex couples can apply to be foster parents but cannot legally adopt children -- even those who have been under their care for many years. Similarly, Foley plans to amend state policy banning gay and lesbian couples from jointly adopting a child conceived through in vitro fertilization, while also reforming laws surrounding stepparent adoption of a partner's child.

Although the announcement was widely welcomed by LGBT rights groups and the community at large, some advocates expressed concern about the decision of the new government of state premier Daniel Andrews to complete a review of existing laws before enacting the promised changes.

A similar review was completed in 2007, reports The Age. And until the review is complete and the changes signed into law, LGBTI Australians in Victoria will continue waiting for the same rights already guaranteed to LGBT residents of New South Wales, Western Australia, Tasmania, and the Australian Capital Territory (akin to the District of Columbia in the U.S.).

Foley, however, attempted to assuage those concerns. "It will be dealt with as expeditiously and as thoroughly as we can," the equality minister told The Age. "We will do it once, and we will do it right."

2) No More License to Discriminate
Among his top priorities as Victoria's new equality minister, Foley promised reforms that will make it more difficult to discriminate against gay employees and job applicants on religious grounds.

The process will involve rewriting the state's equal opportunity laws to ensure that employers -- including those at parochial schools -- do not discriminate in hiring, firing, or retaining LGBT employees as well as those of differing faith backgrounds, according to The Age.

3) Making Schools Safer
Foley also plans to "require every government secondary school to have programs to support gay students through a statewide rollout of the safe schools coalition initiative," the newspaper reports.

Guidance on creating safer schools will come from the Safe Schools Coalition Australia, which bills itself as "the first national coalition that brings together the whole school community -- school staff, students and families -- to create learning environments that support sexual diversity, intersex and gender diversity." The coalition and its programs are funded by the Australian Government Department of Education and based on the National Safe Schools Framework, which has been endorsed by all ministers of education, according to the organization's website.

The project builds on the "highly successful Safe Schools Coalition Victoria model at Gay and Lesbian Health Victoria, which has already worked with thousands of school staff and students," according to Safe Schools Coalition Australia.

4) Greater Relationship Recognition
Foley also plans to amend the relationships register in Victoria to require the state to recognize same-sex marriages legally performed in other jurisdictions around the world. While the move won't require Victoria to begin performing same-sex marriages, it is a step toward marriage equality in the state.

Same-sex marriage was briefly legalized in the Australian Capital Territory by a vote of that region's Parliament last year, but the law was overturned by the nation's High Court just days after taking effect, with the court ruling that the 2004 Federal Marriage Act (which defines marriage as the union of one man and one woman) trumped any territorial laws. The same-sex couples who wed in the five-day window where it was legal would see their marriages annulled.

The nationwide ban notwithstanding, a solid majority of Australians support marriage equality, according to a July poll that found 72 percent of Australians are in favor of the freedom to marry.

5) Decriminalizing HIV
Finally, Foley intends to repeal Section 19A of the federal Crimes Act, which makes "intentional transmission" of HIV punishable by up to 25 years in prison. As it stands, Section 19A specifically lists HIV as a "very serious disease," reports The Sydney Morning Herald.

Although it's unclear what precise form the law's revision will take, the intention to decriminalize HIV heeds demands from activists who have long argued that such outdated blanket policies actually increase the rate of HIV infection, as they further stigmatize HIV-positive individuals.

Finally, Good News from Down Under

A rash of negative stories about Australian treatment of LGBT people has permeated media outlets of late. It's not hard to imagine that Victoria's new government will be pleased to see some positive coverage about Australia in the form of its plans to advance LGBT rights and equality in Melbourne and throughout the the state.

Last month a 29-year-old transgender woman of color was stopped at an airport in Sydney by customs officials and not allowed to enter the country. Arizona State University student Monica Jones was returning to Australia to conduct AIDS research after having begun her project there earlier in the month.

Jones was detained because her name was, according to attorneys for Australia's immigration minister, on a "movement alert" list of people considered "possible threats" to Australia. It remains unclear how Jones was added to this list, but Australian Broadcasting Company reporters speculated that it was related to her conviction for "manifesting prostitution" in Phoenix, which Jones is appealing on the grounds that the law under which she was convicted is an unconstitutional restriction on free speech, and encourages police profiling.

In October, following public outrage and a petition signed by nearly 28,000 people, Australian tabloid The Courier Mail officially issued an apology for its sensationalistic and sexualized coverage of a transgender woman's murder.

A month earlier, The Sydney Morning Heraldtold the story of a young transgender person who experienced heartwrenching humiliation at the hands of a cashier in a grocery store. That story went viral, tugging at hearts worldwide.

When the young man (who wishes to remain anonymous) attempted to buy cigarettes, a cashier allegedly laughed loudly and drew the attention of an estimated 20 other shoppers to him, responding to his outdated ID photo. The man, who recently lost his child care job, said he hasn't been able to afford updating the ID since beginning his gender transition.

"She looked at me funny, and said it wasn't me in the photo," he told the Herald. "I've got a bit of facial hair from testosterone I'm taking, and in my photo I haven't got any. She laughed in my face when I told her my situation. ... She may have thought I didn't look like my license, but it was uncalled for her to laugh."

"I'm transitioning and I don't want everyone to know yet," the young man told the newspaper. "She was so loud everyone turned around. I was so embarrassed. Transitioning is an emotional thing to go through, without any extra drama."

In 2013, Victoria had its own share of transphobic news, when the territory's Birth, Deaths, and Marriages office demanded that transgender man Paige Phoenix and his wife return their marriage certificate so it could be destroyed, just three weeks after the couple wed.

In order to change one's gender on legal documentation, Victoria requires transgender people undergo gender-confirming surgery -- which Phoenix says violates his and other trans people's human rights. Due to a prohibitive medical condition, Phoenix had chosen to forgo any type of surgical intervention, though he stresses that requiring invasive, irreversible surgery for any trans person -- whether they are medically able to undergo the procedures or not -- is unconscionable. Phoenix has filed complaints with the United Nations' Human Rights Committee.