Senior Law Lecturer: Dr Chris Kendall

Murdoch University is building a reputation for social justice through the research of Senior Law lecturer Dr Chris Kendall into the impact of discriminatory laws surrounding gender and sexuality.

Earlier this year, Dr Kendall published a legal guide aimed at educating lesbians and gay men about their rights and responsibilities.

More than 500 copies of the guide were sold and the book is now in its second printing.

“WA laws are the most regressive and discriminatory in Australia, and WA remains the only state in Australia without basic human rights protection for lesbians and gay men,” said Dr Kendall.

Dr Kendall explained that the guide is a starting point for gays and lesbians and aims to assist in forming strategies to overcome the many legal obstacles that directly impact on their lives.

In Western Australia, it is still legal to deny homosexual people housing, goods and services and employment. Gay men and lesbians also face serious disadvantages in the courts when their partners die or when there are disputes with respect to issues like child custody and child support.

Each year, many same sex relationships are legally labelled “invalid” by the courts. This can result in gay men and lesbians being denied access to shared property, the right to adopt children, being discriminated against in employment and results in unacceptable social and legal inequality, not to mention much personal suffering and grief.

“Our government has chosen not to protect us from discrimination. In doing so, it has as much as said that any discrimination and violence directed at us is acceptable. If one certain segment of the population is denied justice, abuse is essentially promoted in the community,” said Dr Kendall.

He explained that Western Australia has the highest age of consent for consensual same-sex sexual relations in Australia (21 for same-sex relationships; 16 for heterosexual relationships), and also has the highest level of gay youth suicide in the world. This, he argues, “is not a mere coincidence”.

He adds: “WA is home to criminal laws that make it impossible for educators to implement those strategies needed to combat gay youth suicide and other gay youth related issues like the transmission of HIV/AIDS. This is both dangerous and socially myopic.”

Dr Kendall established Australia’s only course in law and sexuality at Murdoch University in 1996, which aims to teach tomorrow’s lawyers to be more accommodating of difference and more sensitive to the concerns of others.

“By teaching students about inequality and discrimination, we can, as we must, raise the level of social awareness in the legal community,” he said.

Dr Kendall is currently finishing his doctoral thesis in the United States. He is questioning the many legal and social issues associated with pornography, and aims to both draft and implement laws that will assist victims of pornographic abuse.

Recently, he was involved in litigation before the Supreme Court of Canada, arguing that Canada’s anti-pornography laws should be upheld as a violation of the equality rights guaranteed in the Canadian Charter of Rights and freedoms.

He aims to have similar laws adopted in Australia.