We hear about — though sometimes not often enough — the sexual assault of lesbian women in African counties, as a way to “rape the gay” out of them. Because parents and families cannot possibly accept a queer child, certainly the only way to cure them is by forced penetration. It’s an idea that one Australian father also had for his gay son. But rather than rape the boy himself, he allegedly forced his son to have sex with a female prostitute. Ugh.
Yes, this counts as rape, too. The Bulletin:
A ROCKHAMPTON dad is accused of forcing his son to have sex with a prostitute because he feared the 14-year-old was gay.
During a family barbecue around Christmas time in 2007, the dad allegedly phoned a prostitute and arranged to meet her at a motel on Yaamba Road, North Rockhampton.
The father drove his son to the motel and paid the prostitute in $50 notes.
The prostitute took the boy into a motel room while the father waited on a balcony.
The dad walked in and out of the room to check on his son and told him he wanted to see a used condom as proof that they’d had sex. After the boy and the prostitute had finished the dad took his son home.
A magistrate yesterday found there was enough evidence against the father for him to stand trial for the rape of his son.
Cam
This is disturbing on so many levels.
romeo
What kind of respectable working girl would agree to that? That’s the kind of whore that gives prostitution a bad name. As for the father, don’t know what the book is in Australia, but I hope they throw it at him. The kid was 14, surely that’s underage down under.
FakeName
I’d like to see the statute under which the father is being charged because while it’s reprehensible to subject a child to this sort of trauma (not to mention it’s a total rip-off of a 1984 episode of Hotel) I’m having some difficulty seeing this as rape based on the given details.
Taylor Siluwé
@ Romeo — LOL! Not to disparage working girls, but that’s your first response to this?
@ Cam — Totally agree. Although its hardly uncommon, just not always with a prostitute (and a looming dad demanding proof- ughh!!)
yogadude
The same thing happened to me when I was 16 (I’m 43 now). I never thought of it as “rape”, but I suppose it is. Not that I’ve ever felt OK with it, just that it didn’t fall into my definition of “rape” since it didn’t involve physical violence. Now what?
George
You don’t really need physical violence for something to be considered rape. The key word in that article is “forced”. Forcing someone to have sex against their will is always rape. He’s underage and was apparently forced against his will. That screams of rape to me.
Craig
@FakeName, what would you call it? In many jurisdictions, a rapist doesn’t necessarily have to be the person performing in the sex act. Consider this scenario: A man pulls a random man and random woman off the street at gun point and under threat of death forces the man to have sex with the woman. Is the man pulled off the street guilty of rape…or is it the man forcing him to have sex with the woman that is the rapist? Should the man forced to have sex with the woman be charged with a crime or is he strictly a victim as well? In some jurisdictions it wouldn’t be considered rape, rather some other form of sexual assault, but in many places there is no difference between rape and sexual assault. I’m not a lawyer, much less an Aussie one, so this may well be a valid use of the rape statute in Queensland.
romeo
Yogadude: If the father down there was overseeing the, uh, procedure and demanding results, then it would qualify as rape, and not just statutory, either. Forcing someone to have sex against their will is “physical violence.” That raggedy-assed prostitute needs to be charged as well. A practitioner of the world’s oldes profession, even if she’s just a crack whore, should have higher standards than that.
Ugly, Ugly, Ugly.
Jon B
@Fakename: It’s probably a very similar law to the one you’d get charged with here in America. When guilty of an inchoate crime, you are guilty of the underlying crime. For example, if you hire someone to commit murder, you have committed murder. If you hire someone to kidnap someone else, you are guilty of kidnapping. Therefore if you hire someone to rape someone else, you are guilty of rape. Since the kid was a minor, any form of sexual contact between him and an adult is legally rape, as he does not have the capacity to consent.
Disgusted American
…could You imagine – IF this had been Gay parents – doing “that” to thier son…so he wouldn’t be “str8″….the nutjobs,religious wackos etc would be hollering from the mountaintops about them gays recruiting kids etc etc etc…..
merkin
this is a horrible situation–but lets remember the kid might not be gay. The father just suspected his son was a homo. Not that it has any bearing on if the father should be arrested.
Online Paid Surveys Guide
Omg, this is horrid. The idiotic things people do…
ChrisM
If they want to charge him with rape, they probably have good reason. There may have been violence, or threats of violence, from the dad. My bet is the wacko was at least verbally abusing his son. Remember this is just a newspaper article that’s meant to be decent enough for the public to read. Just because it doesn’t have all of the disturbing details doesn’t mean they aren’t there. If there was enough evidence to charge the dad with rape, then there is probably a lot we don’t know about this.
Wen
Any forced sex (intercourse) is rape. The father forced his son to have sex with this prostitute, hence it is rape. The violence is in the *forcing* itself.
sal(the original)
well prison sound good for daddy dearest….future main bitch on the block in prison,i hope he has more of those condoms hahahahahaha
Puck
Also the Dad was watching, thats just sick.
jason
This is so Australia. It’s a terribly homophobic backwater, sort of like the Deep South in the 1940’s. Best avoided, I’d say.
staciegirlie
Yep, like George says, this is still considered rape, even if there was no violence.
In this particular case, it is statutory rape. It’s illegal to have sex with a minor under the age of consent even if the minor, himself, agrees to it.
VegasTeaRoom
It’s statutory rape by proxy.
scott ny'er
whoa. the things peeps will do.
but wasn’t this done in the old days with royalty and such to have young princes, etc gain experience. different motivation, same result, no?
sam
@No 17 Jason: no, just no 😛
I just graduated high school and in my very open life (i’ve never had to deny being gay eveR) i can count my homophobic encounters literally on two hands. Sure if you go to some backwater shithole like fortitude valley, kings cross or an ywhere north of rockhampton its shite but the same could be said for any place in america.
don’t talk about shit you know nothing about.
k?
chris
amen sam
It’s always entertaining to hear americans lecture ANY country about the way they do things.
No offence.
jason
No country is free of homophobia but please let’s stop this nonsense about Australians being open-minded on gay rights. The lack of progress in Australia on gay marriage is testament to that.
Xavier Deron
I read about this case in The Australian.I”m not mistaken, the father was also calling the local police station and falsely claiming the son was “abusing” his younger brother. Daddy demanded several times the police arrest his son. Sounds very disturbed imho.
Wen
Jason, Im not from Australia, but its primarily the Prime Minister and his conservative party currently running that block equal rights, either civil unions or marriage. If they get a more progressive party running, Australia may have gay marriage even before the USA. Not that this is a contest (hopefully not), but Australia is a bot different from USA, also less religious nutbags.
Perkin
Specifically for Jason & Wen – I am from Australia, I am from Queensland and I am originally from the city where this incident took place. It is my home town where I lived the first 17 years of my life, where I had my first gay experiences, where I had to endure the homophobic taunting and bashing of my school mates.
This whole incident saddens me deeply. This took place two years ago – not 20, 30 or 50 years ago. It took place in this century, a supposedly enlightened century. The news report detailed what a magistrate (not a judge, but still a legal figure capable of making recommendations and issuing fines or custodial sentences) has concluded that there is sufficient evidence to proceed with a trial to decided whether a rape has occurred, how is responsible if that has occurred and what punishment should be meted out if the case is proven. So, we are at that stage with the incident – whether the police, the Attorney-General’s office (the State’s legal official) or the public prosecutor decides to pursue this case. It has made front page news of the local paper (quoted above – note the paper’s name is “The Morning Bulletin”) and like all good, salacious news stories it has been given a big splash and a lot of titillating details.
As I said, this saddens me, not just for the health and mental stability of the then 14yo (who is now 16)but for the potential trashing of my home town of Rockhampton world-wide. When I saw it on a tweet from an LA based porn actor on Thursday I felt deeply sad. Now the whole world knows and will form an opinion based on these few lines.
And that is what I believe Jason and Wen have done – no disrespect to them and no suggestion that they have not had any other information about the life of us gay people in Australia. Couple of points – Australia is not governed by a conservative party per se. The Australian Labor Party is the government party currently, has been for the past two years. Similar in policy and platforms to the Labour Party of Great Britain, the Democrat Party of the USA and various Social Democratic parties in Europe. Like all these social welfare centred parties, with a strong support base in the labour unions, the ALP has moved closer to the centre line of politics in the past 20 years, being more conservative on financial policy though still more liberal on social welfare policy and industrial relations that the former coalition government Liberal/National Party (who have moved further and further to the right of politics as a result.) Yes, our Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is a church going Anglican (Episcopalian) with a more socially conservative viewpoint that many others in his party. However, he is vastly more acceptable that his predecessor John Howard who is very conservative and backward thinking on all areas of social policy. That said, there is an ongoing battle both within the ALP and outside to be progressive on law reform, specifically same sex attracted marriage. I believe it will come and I believe it will happen after our next general election due before the end of 2010, provided the ALP is returned as the governing party in the House of Representatives and that the Senate (our upper house in a Westminster style system)has a balance of power arrangements with the Australian Greens who are the most progressive main stream party in Australia currently when it comes to issues affecting lesbian and gay males in Australia. (Though the Greens do not have the vast support currently to move into a position of being the government party. Perhaps one day…perhaps not.)
Australia has many less savoury points – true Jason, I agree. However, I would prefer to live here than in the USA which to our eyes and ears is a country governed by hypocrites. Not meaning just certain members of Congress, but the vast array of commentators, political lobbyists and off the wall fruit loops (Westboro Baptist Church and the charming Fred Phelps for starters). Australians have been traditionally less worried about religious standards than Americans though there is a growing vocal minority influenced by the Christian charismatic right and the Muslim fundamentalist preachers. It is these people we have to stand against and debate, prove their arguments to be flawed and put our case to our fellow citizens that we do not want special rights or separate rights but to enjoy the same standards of living that our hetero siblings, parents, cousins, workmates and friends do.
In July this year, I attended the 2nd World Outgames in Copenhagen as a competitor. One of the enduring messages that was given to us all at the closing ceremony was to take the message of strength, unity and inclusion back to our homelands – some places like Denmark, Sweden, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Japan etc were places where LGBTQI people can live in a certain amount of safety and freedom, others such as Egypt, Iraq, Uganda, Russia, Lithuania are countries with large populations of our gay brothers and sisters facing persecution, inequality and sadly, death. The message of strength is the same for all – you are not alone, there are others out there who will fight with you and for you, and you will do the same for them. I am ready for the fight. Who’s going to join me in making 2010 the year we began to truly make a difference to the lives of all people on this small planet of ours?
Taylor Siluwé
Wow, Perkins, this post was a slam dunk on so many levels. Thank you …
Sammi
Wen,
The Australian Labor Party is in charge, a group of centre-left/left of centre politicians. The conservative/right wing party, the Liberal Party of Australia, is in opposition.
The ALP is the most friendly of political parties, other than the Greens, when it comes to LGBT rights and issues.
The Australian Liberals were rabidly homophobic, the Labor Party is only really opposed to gay marriage.
Perkin
Many thanks Taylor. Coming from you, I take that comment very highly and feel greatly humbled.
emceebee
Perkins said anything I could possibly say.
Other than the fact that does the US have openly gay people as Ministers? We have two! And the leader of the Greens Party is a happy gay man.
Keith Kimmel
This is what religion (specifically, Christianity) does to people. Thanks for posting, Queerty. Somethbing to remind all of the minions of as they celebrate the religious observance of Christmas.
Bhakti
In response to No. 31 Keith Kimmel–as a Christian who is quite gay and guite spiritually connected to the Spirit (not the dogma), I would say that I am living proof that it is not Christianity itself that causes the digusting behavior of this man towards his innocent 14 year old son, but first and foremost, it was this man’s ignorance. Ignorance is one of the biggest diseases alive in this world today. It is small/close minded ignorant people who commit these acts in the NAME of religion.
Having said that, my brother calls his 11 year old son “gay boy” and “homo”. It makes me sick.
The man in the above article should have his son taken away from him and be sent to maximum prison to live out the rest of his life.
Keith Kimmel
Most of these people death to the fags people would be fine if you take away the Christianity. They do it because they think god told them thats the way it should be. Basically, religion allows stupid people to congregate and become something more.
Taylor Siluwé
@ no. 33 — LMAO
**standing ovation**
Perkin
@#33 Quote Basically, religion allows stupid people to congregate and become something more.unquote
Public Admission – I am a stupid person who has become something more.
In duci jublio…
Perkin
@#33 Quote Basically, religion allows stupid people to congregate and become something more.unquote
Public Admission – I am a stupid person who has become something more.
In dulci jublio…
(spelling correction – mea culpa)
GayBoi76
If you want to see something really disgusting go check out http://www.advocate.com, some of the responses people gave to this story are shocking, a few people actually thought it was humorous! How gross is it that a father would have his son raped by a prostitute?
terrwill
I hope his son turns into a lesbian………..
Bob
The hooker should be jailed for child rape too. Whyt doe this whore get off with having sex wth a child. Women never get the same punishment as men when they sexually abuse an underage boy.
Bob
Woe..ecuse the typos in my last comment…lol
DirtyTalknDaddy
This stinks of homophobia of the sickest kind. I know guys who were forced into the situation by their fathers. Luckily, in both cases the woman agreed to lie and tell their dads they had done it, but no gay boy or man should have to endure such a degrading and horrifying experience. I hope the kid jacked off in the condom and showed is to his evil scumbag dad. I hope his dad gets sent to prison where he can learn all about anal rape from the receiving end.
chavtastic
Gays take over the world. Kill all the straight men (even the metros, when its revolution time, its fuckin revolution time), limit procreation to test tubes (max births one million a year..i dunno is that too little?), one world governent, no personal cars, no vinyl siding..oh shit i forgot about straight women……some may not like it, but fuck it, they’ll grow to love it. We’ll make them dildos and give them dvds of, fuckin eric dane or…whats his face? Dr. Oz….whatever. Tyra gets shipped to the intl space station to clean chimp shit and Oprah marries Gale, big ceremony, they rule world, everyone happy, things like what daddy did dont occur, ok?
Michael
Gay people in Australia are incredibly stupid or misguided for supporting the Labor Party. There’s this blind adherence to a party that has failed to measure up on gay rights, especially marriage/civil unions.
Another problem is that Australia’s gays are incredibly passive. There’s no GLAAD in Australia, there’s no Human Rights Campaign. Gays in Australia are more interested in dance parties than in basic civil rights.
They’re a dull, unthinking lot in Australia. Avoid the country, it’s a hell-hole.
Perkin
Michael:
I could not be more angry if I tried. What an ignorant, idiotic post you have just made. You are the same as the moronic right-wingers we are fighting by making simplistic, sweeping statements with no basis in fact or reality. Where the hell are you from and what has our country done to make you such a bitter, twisted individual?
Rebutting your points:
I agree, slavish devotion to one party is wrong and the ALP has not been at its best when it comes to equal opportunity for gay people. However – FACT – all bar one state or territory achieved decriminalization or some form of legal status for us by the actions of a Labor government.
Second FACT – the nature of our parliamentary system means it ultimately boils down to a Two Party Preferred vote – we have preferential voting (something the Americans and Brits cannot comprehend) which means we can choose to send out vote where we like, but ultimately the vote comes down to either Labor or Liberal/National. Until the Greens can increase their primary vote (and it rarely rises above 9% nationally) they cannot hope win seats in the House of Representatives. They have the chance to win balance of power status in the Senate and this does give them real power, should they be able to negotiate changes to legislation etc. The Greens have the best position on our legal status and equality, though it is always easy to state a grand and heroic position when you are not in the hope of actually winning power and having to implement it!
Third part of your rant really riled me – Australian gays are passive and only into dance parties? That sounds like most American gays I have heard of in reading articles, books, blogs even films and tv. So don’t tell me that Australians are passive and no-one else is….
Yes, there is no GLAAD here, but we don’t need another lobby group when we already have Anti-Discrimination Boards in every state and nationally that actually work and work to implement legislation that protects who we are, where we live and work and with whom we congregate. And as for no Human Rights Campaign – what planet are you on? We have very strong, vocal organizations campaigning for a Bill of Rights in this country and we have amazing leaders from our community to continue to inspire us to fight. The former High Court Judge, Michael Kirby (an out and proud gay man in a long term relationship) is one of the most outstanding people, gay or straight, we have in this country.
We are not dull, we are not unthinking and it is not a hell-hole. We tend to be more laidback, we don’t get hung up over trivialities and we show many things a healthy dose of disrespect to keep things in perspective. It is not always easy living here, but as I posted earlier, I would much rather be here in a land blest with amazing climates, beautiful scenery, relatively clean and safe and free from screaming rabid moronic bigots in the North American sphere of influence.
The Sydney Gay Mardi Gras was founded nearly 32 years ago on the backs of what was a peaceful parade which turned into a protest march and like the Stonewall Riots of 69, a movement grew out of that which was militant and strong. The fact we still have the Parade every year attracting thousands of people and millions of dollars to Sydney in testament to the bravery of the 78ers in defying police brutality and public disgust.
Australian gays are proud, fierce and bloody brilliant to know. Just never make an enemy of us….
michael
Anti-discrimination boards in Australia??? LOL. These so-called boards are ineffective and largely passive. If these boards were so effective, why haven’t they spoken out against the current bans on gay marriage and gay civil unions throughout the whole of Australia?
As for the Sydney Mardi Gras, give me a freaking break. A sleaze fest where men take drugs and wear lycra shorts is hardly indicative of gay rights. It’s more like a festival of indulgence, with the burning issue being the color of the lycra.
Spare me the pro-Australia palava. It’s a backward place with uptight people.
adam
Well it’s indisputable that Australia is falling behind much of the rest of the world in terms of gay marriage or civil union rights. Spain, Canada, five states in the USA, Great Britain, Holland…all these have either gay marriage or gay civil unions.
I think that Australian gays have been too beholden to their Labor Party, a party which has stabbed them in the back.
Bob
Yeah and the Democratic Party has stabbed us in the back (again)!
Wen
Perkin, thanks for your post to explain how your party system works and who is who. I hear news about gay Australia only through some Dutch gay sites, and when I hear Labor Party this means to us they are all pro-gay marriage (as is here in the Netherlands), and the Liberal Party being so very conservative? The liberals here were the ones who put gay marriage on the agenda & legalized it when they were running. I think Holland may be the only country where the Right is pro-gay marriage and equality (execpt for, you guessed it, religious parties-we have a multiple party system, 3 in cabinet, and about 7 in opposition, currently-of which 3 are Christian).
Anyway, thanks for your enlightening information. When your Labors are at least for gay unions, thats a start, and from what Ive read (and correct me if Im wrong) some of them are pro-gay marriage.
Holland didnt have a civil rights movement, either, like in the USA. I fact, the Organization for Homosexuality wasnt so much for gay marriage (they considered it a dated institution, lol), so it took some years before they started to change their mind, inspired by some politicians mostly.
Can Australia do it through courts?
Wen
sammi, thanks, that helps to understand.
Wen
http://carnalnation.com/content/10241/615/we-only-want-equal-rights-fight-same-sex-marriage-netherlands
Perkin
Michael:
Your arguments are false – our anti-discrimination boards are passive and ineffective? Where is your data for that? Plus you have not answered my question of which country you are from and why you are so anti-Australia? What have we done to offend you so much?
With regard to your comment about the Mardi Gras, it shows that you are terribly bitter about something in the gay world. The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras is more than one party and I doubt you have grasped that.
Adam:
Yes Australia is behind other nations, when I heard that Albania was planning on legalizing same sex unions I nearly died – Albania!!! However, the number of countries where same sex unions are allowed is depressingly small and as for the states of the USA, one by one they seemed to rolled back or defeated before they get off the ground. The political climate in the US is just as disappointing as it is here.
Wen:
You are fortunate to live in an enlightened country. Your link was very informative and many of the issues raised there “don’t call it marriage”, “why would I want to have an outmoded convention anyway” are part of the debate here now. There are sections of the ALP campaigning for marriage and the majority of people surveyed in this country support it. However, Australians are inherently a conservative people brought about by being isolated for most of our existence due to our geography. Now that the world is smaller and (hopefully) better access to information, this is changing. Issues on contraception, abortion, environmental policy particularly are more forward thinking that they were thirty years ago.
You asked if something could be done through the courts – as far as I know, I don’t think that would be possible. The previous Government, the Liberal/National Party (conservatives) passed an Act of Parliament that defined marriage as only for being between a man and a woman. To their eternal shame the ALP (then in opposition) supported the act – mostly because they were afraid of being “wedged” by the then Government on a issue that could be seen to be divisive and electorally unpopular. (A tactic the previous government used time and time again in this country to drive debate and proved just how morally bankrupt they truly are.)
I still stand by my view that should the ALP win the 2010 general election and the Senate is more agreeable (the idiot Senator Stephen Fielding of the Family First Party – a mindless fool of the Christian right wing – is defeated, with the Greens holding the balance of power in the Senate) then the ALP will bring forward some form of partnership to be legislated. Probably the best we can hope for is something like the British system. It would be wonderful if it was like Canada, the Netherlands or – joy of joys – Sweden!
John
Gay marriage aside, Australia has a generally progressive attitude to gay rights. The current government was elected on a policy of removing discrimination against gays in Federal legislation (marriage laws excepted) and has delivered on the promise. See here:
http://www.fahcsia.gov.au/sa/families/progserv/Pages/same_sex_relationships.aspx
Opinion polls in Australia show majority support for gay marriage but it has not been pushed as a political issue as strongly as in some countries.
One reason for this is that Australians are not particularly religious and marriage is not held in such high esteem as in some other places. A second reason is that Australian laws (involving superannuation, social security etc.) generally treat de facto marriages and de jure marriages as equivalent, so being legally married doesn’t offer the same advantages as it does in, say, the United States. Nevertheless, the option of gay marriage is necessary for legal equality and I expect that it will become available within the next decade or so, if not sooner.
Perkin
Thank you John. Concise, direct, factual. Hope others here take note.
emceebee
For more info on what is being done to challenge homophobia in Australia check out this website:
http://www.thatssogay.com.au/
staciegirlie
@Chavtastic: I have a better suggestion: You can just become a male hooker for the straight females.
SteveDenver
I’m sure this tactic will definitely enhance the son’s attraction to women in general. NOT!