The U.K. laws that permit same-sex marriage have influenced South Australia government to change the country's legislation.
The South Australia's plan to amend same-sex marriage laws came after Bulmer-Rizzi case, in which the state government denied to recognize the marriage of Marco and David Bulmer-Rizzi, British newlyweds, when they arrived in South Australia for honeymoon.
David Bulmer-Rizzi died on January 16 in South Australia from injuries sustained from falling down a staircase. The local authority, as it does not recognize same-sex marriage, inscribed the words "never married" upon David's death certificate, Sydney Morning Herald reported.
The authorities required David's father, Nigel Bulmer, to fly in from the U.K. to serve as next-of-kin and arrange what to do with the body. Otherwise, Bulmer-Rizzi would have been sidelined from the process completely.
David's husband, Marco Bulmer-Rizzi, appealed to the U.K. and Australian government to intervene after the "outright discrimination" by South Australian authorities.
On January 20, South Australian Premier Jay Weatherhill personally telephoned Marco Bulmer-Rizzi to apologize for what happened. Marco told Buzzfeed that Weatherhill phoned him directly and said he would work on ways to change the legislation and eventually provide him with a new death certificate.
According to The Guardian, the South Australian government is currently digesting the findings of a South Australian Law Reform Institute study. The study report suggested that up to 14 pieces of legislation that discriminate against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer South Australians be removed.
This is not the first time that death and Britain are driving the change in Australian homosexual laws. Before 1975, when South Australia decriminilized homosexuality, men could be handed up to 15 years in jail for consensual sex with other men.
Dr. Claire Parker of the University of Adelaide, who took PhD on this topic, noted that altough South Austalia was the first state in the country to decriminalize homosexual acts, the state did have example to follow including England and Wales' Sexual Offences Act in 1967.
The change in 1975 was catalyzed by the death of Dr. George Duncan, a law lecturer at the University of Adelaide. Duncan was thrown into the River Torrens by a gang of men and subsequently drowned. Dr. Parker said there are stark similarities between the Duncan and Bulmer-Rizzi case.
The gay and lesbian chair in Adelaide, Ian Purcell, said South Australia has made all the right noises on LGBTI rights, but the Labor party have consistently managed to stall progress.
Purcell said something like the Bulmer-Rizzi case is needed to happen before the state government acts.
