Yes, I am gay and proud of it, but I do not need people like you giving more people ammunition to go out and “poofter bash” and all the other abhorrent things that happen to innocents like us, trying to just go about our lives peacefully.

If you want your fifteen minutes of fame, please do it in a way that doesn’t affect the majority of us and as I said before “get a sense of humour !”

You’re wrong in blaming the Australian Human Rights Commission for this. Federal anti-discrimination laws in Australia currently only protect against sexual orientation in employment. While this may be discriminatory, it is now the AHRC’s fault, but rather the Parliament’s fault, as Karen Toohey rightly pointed out. A federal agency is essentially a bureaucracy, meaning it is obliged to respect the content of the law. It can’t simply make up new law as it chooses.

The Rudd Government stated its intention to introduce a more comprehensive anti-discrimination law covering sexual orientation and gender identity in the next year. This would equalise the ground of sexual orientation with that of race and sex.

Please also note that there are state laws which cover a wider range of discrimination grounds. In New South Wales, for example, sexual orientation discrimination is illegal not only in employment, but also in the provision of goods and services, education, vilification, etc. This is equal to provisions relating to race, sex and religion. Similar laws are present in nearly all Australian states. Thus, you can make a complaint to the NSW Anti-Discrimination Board if you feel you have been discriminated on the basis of sexual orientation. The link is http://www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/ADB

But please, explore your options more deeply before kicking up a stink about this. Unfairly blaming the AHRC, an organisation which played a hugely beneficial role in gay law reform, will do nothing to advance your cause or the cause of LGBT equality more generally. Indeed, it trivialises more serious forms of discrimination against LGBT people.