LGBT rights in South Australia
| LGBT rights in South Australia | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Same-sex sexual activity legal? | Always legal for women; legal for men since 1975 |
| Gender identity/expression | Change of sex requires sexual reassignment surgery and no subsisting marriage (new laws to abolish these requirements not yet in effect) |
| Discrimination protections | Yes (both state and federal law) |
| Family rights | |
| Recognition of relationships |
Domestic Partnership Agreement since 2007; Registered relationships not yet in effect |
|
Restrictions:
|
Same-sex marriage prohibited under federal law since 2004; see History of same-sex marriage in Australia |
| Adoption | Yes since 2017 |
The Australian state of South Australia has a chequered history with respect to the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. Initially the state was a national pioneer of LGBT rights in Australia, being the first in the country to decriminalise homosexuality and to introduce a non-discriminatory age of consent for all sexual activity. Subsequently, the state fell behind other Australian jurisdictions in areas including LGBT relationship recognition and parenting, with the most recent law reforms regarding the recognition of same-sex relationships, LGBT adoption and strengthened anti-discrimination laws passed in late 2016.
Since 2007 same-sex couples can enter into domestic partnership agreements and soon sometime in 2017 will be able to enter into registered relationships. Recent changes to the law in 2017 also mean that same-sex couples have legal equity with respect to adoption, surrogacy and assisted reproductive technology rights. As of March 2017, South Australia is the only place within Australia to still allow the gay panic defence within common-law. The law is currently under a review process from the Parliament of South Australia. All other jurisdictions within Australia abolished the gay panic defence, the latest being Queensland just recently.
As with other former British colonies, South Australia originally derived its criminal law from the United Kingdom. This included the prohibition of "buggery" and "gross indecency" between males. Similarly to the United Kingdom, lesbianism was never criminalised under state law.
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