The Great Dissenter

He's been described as a paradox - a conservative monarchist and radical left leaning activist -Justice Michael Kirby, recently retired judge in the highest court of the land.

 A biography of m'learned judge has just been published with Kirby's backing.
The Shuttle has read the book and it's a cracking read.

At the launch of the book Kirby described himself as a gay man who is still a 'second class citizen' in Australia. He's been an active supporter for gay marriage rights and often addresses young gays and lesbians speaking out on civil rights.

On the High Court he was known as the 'great dissenter' in many cases that changed law. His judgements were regarded as 'liberal while written with thoughtfulness and compassion'. It's said the PM Paul Keating appointed Kirby to the High Court to "upset the Tories"

As a young lawyer just out of Sydney University in the 1960's, Kirby was defending Aboriginal activists and student demonstrators. In one case he took on the defence of 24 students who had been arrested demonstrating for black civil rights in the USA outside the US Embassy. He got everyone off the charges and soon moved onto local civil rights cases. As President of the NSW Court of Appeal Kirby was the first judge to issue media releases and was an advocate for Human rights, animal rights, HIV-AIDS and Aboriginal land rights.



Johan van Vloten & Michael Kirby

In 1999 Kirby really shocked few when he quietly 'came out' whilst still sitting on the bench of the High Court of Australia, revealing a fact that was common knowledge.  In his Who's Who entry he listed his long term male partner as Johan van Vloten, a Dutch newsagent.

The outcry from the right wing was deafening. Calls for impeachment came from every angle claiming that Kirby, by announcing he was gay had obviously broken the law when homosexual acts where illegal while he had been sitting as a judge for two decades.  Most including numerous journalists seemed to completely overlook the fact that Kirby had simply announced that he was gay and made no mention of sexual acts.

And then came the great 'rent boy' scandal when PM John Howard's bovver boy Senator Bill Heffernan announced late one night in Parliament that a High Court judge had mis-used government hire cars to cruise an infamous under age male hustler spot in Sydney.

Kirby kept quiet during the fracas while Howard 'suggested' he step aside and that he may call for a Commonwealth Police investigation into Kirby's fitness for office. The great manipulator Howard soon had egg on his face.  When the matter was found to be a fraud Heffernan made a sincere and unequivocal apology. Howard demonstrated his innate meanness by remaining silent.

 Kirby's scalp was one the right wing had been after for ages but he says he wasn't the real victim of the crude scandal, but that the Parliamentary system had been damaged. Kirby said that the long held tradition of Standing Orders in the Westminster system was that sitting judges should be immune from attacks by parliamentarians.

 Heffernan was censured by the Senate and afterwards apologised for making the allegations. Kirby promptly responded: "I accept Senator Heffernan's apology and reach out my hand in a spirit of reconciliation. I hope my ordeal will show the wrongs that hate of homosexuals can lead to"

 Following this gracious acceptance, Who Weekly magazine named Kirby among the 25 Beautiful People of Australia. Kirby however feels aggrieved that his name and Heffernan's are forever linked on Google.

Since retiring in Kirby has travelled the world speaking at law symposiums where he has a reputation  as an eloquent and powerful orator, having given a vast number of speeches over his career on a diverse range of topics. While President of the International Commission of Jurists he encouraged that organisation to give more consideration to human sexuality as an aspect of human rights

You can buy A.J. Brown's biography Michael Kirby: Paradoxes/Principles here

 Kirby's life has been fascinating and he is a man who is regarded as one of the world's great jurists.

You can listen to or download a podcast of an interview with Michael Kirby on the ABC here.

High Court Judge Supports Gay & Lesbian Wedding Album

The Potential Wedding Album is for same-sex couples who would like the option to get married in Australia. Inclusion in the album is to show support for marriage equality, currently a hot topic that has got many Australian politicians in a real tizz and heading for the hills - except notably The Greens who support same sex marriage as one of their main policies. Dr Bob Brown, their leader  is openly gay and lives with his male partner,

Bob Brown

With that in mind, as volumes of The Potential Wedding Album are completed they will be printed and delivered to the Prime Minister Julia Gillard  and the Leader of the Opposition Tony Abbott and other members of the Australian parliament, to highlight the couples who are treated unfairly by the marriage laws in this country. 

They should make ideal coffee table books for Mad Monk Abbott, a conservative Catholic !

The project has already got some major supporters including former High Court Justice Michael Kirby who retired in 2009 after exiting the closet quietly in 1999 when he listed his long term partner in Who's Who In Australia as Johan van Vloten.

Johan van Vloten & Justice Michael Kirby

Kirby came in for criticism from shocked  conservative circles but stood his ground even after a botched attempt to falsely stitch him up over the alleged use of Commonwealth chauffeured limos to pick up rent boys at Sydney's notorious Wall, a male prostitute haunt.  

It was  discovered the ComCar records being bandied about that purported to show Kirby's movements were fake with the result that then Prime Minister John Howard offered an unqualified apology in Parliament.

 Since retiring, Kirby has toured the world  lecturing at law symposiums and speaking on equal rights, particularly for young gays and lesbians.

If you want to show support for the Potential Wedding Album you can sign up here

And go the albums to view many of the couples who have signed up and contributed their photos. The albums are quite charming.

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## One budding politician who is openly supporting same sex marriage is the famous private eye Frank Monte who will be standing for NSW's Upper House in the March 2011 state election. 

Frank Monte

Brought up a Catholic in an Italian family in Egypt, Monte says although his political views are fairly conservative, he believes personal liberty is one of the greatest bastions of a free society and he supports the freedom of people of any orientation to get legally hitched-at St Mary's Cathedral if that's what takes their fancy !

Legends to lead the parade..

Napier-Bell

Dusty

        It's always a bit off a secret but we can reveal the lead float for tonight's Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras will feature famous gays and lesbians through the ages from Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Oscar Wilde and so on. And later day icons will include the likes of Dusty Springfield which should please a regular Shuttle reader, the Thailand based pop mogul Simon Napier-Bell who co-authored her greatest hit "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" ( he titled his autobiography after the song and was Britain's Gay Personality Of The Year in 2005).

For the uninformed, the parade this year begins at Whitlam Square. At last year's beginning point a few hundred metres down the road there were reputedly 8 stabbings and about 40 fist fights. Why organisers think it will be any different this year is a mystery but there will be a 1000 police on hand ( including the contingent who march in the parade). No guesses that a fair number of them will be posted outside the party venue with a dozen sniffer dogs. Take your drugs early folks although this does bring the risk of peaking early and tears before bedtime-or party time. Not that we encourage that sort of thing.

Sir Elton & Ross Watson

Meanwhile at the Depot Gallery in Waterloo there is an exhibition of paintings by Ross Watson-who has a fan in Elton John. He has done a huge portrait of last year's lead from the Mardi Gras, the gold medalist diver Matthew Mitcham who thanked his male partner on the winning dais at Beijing in 2008 and has since become a gay pin-up. Mitcham is depicted in Caravaggio style paintings as seen here.

lovers: Johan van Vloten & Justice Michael Kirby

Watson has done a series of local gay icons including Justice Michael Kirby the recently retired High Court judge who quietly came out via his Who's Who entry 10 years ago when under his partner listing he included his lover, a Dutch news agent Johan van Vloten calling him "domestic partner". A political firestorm followed as his head was demanded with claims he was admitting to illegal gay sex previous to 1984.

  Says Sir Elton of Watson- "Having known Ross Watson for a long time, and been a collector of his art, I had the opportunity recently to visit his gallery, which reconfirmed my belief that he is a great talent. I never tire of his paintings - he is a leader in contemporary realism."