Today the NSW Labor government apologised for the past criminalisation and oppression of gay people.
What should a meaningful apology have? At a minimum, a promise to stop doing whatever you’re apologising for and not do it again. Even better would be to engage in restorative justice by extending reparations to those who lost their jobs, friends, family, and lives to these unjust laws.
So what did Labor give us? More hollow words! There’s enough support from Greens and independents that Labor could pass the Equality Bill today, but they don’t. The state continues to oppress and discriminate against queer people. No reparations were offered either. It’s an empty apology that benefits nobody, it’s done purely to make Labor look good.
NSW is the last state in so-called Australia to apologise for historic homophobic legislation. So why now? Perhaps it’s as damage control for the fact that NSW Labor members recently voted to ban books on LGBT parenting from libraries? Perhaps it’s a distraction from the way Labor has continued to assure religious bigots that their right to discriminate will continue to be protected?
The apology is a sham. The reviews and committees around the Equality Bill are shams. We see through Labor’s pinkwashing.
Words without action are worthless.
