LGBTQ rights in Victoria
The Australian state of Victoria is regarded as one of the country's most progressive jurisdictions with respect to the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. Victoria is the only state in Australia that has implemented a LGBTIQA+ Commissioner. In November 2025, Victoria became the first jurisdiction within Australia to allow a change of sex on a birth certificate for an individual without any fee or cost.
Laws regarding homosexuality
was a crime in Victoria from 1958 until December 1980, when the Hamer Liberal government repealed the state's sodomy laws, with the death penalty being on the books for sodomy in Victoria until 1949.The law passed 72–7, and went into effect in March 1981. The age of consent for both heterosexual and homosexual acts was set at 18, with some exceptions. However, a loosely worded "soliciting for immoral purposes" clause, inserted by dissident Liberals, saw police continue to harass homosexual men until the late 1980s.
Homosexual activism in Australia, mainly for gay men, was founded in Victoria. This is particularly prominent in Melbourne. The Melbourne-based Daughters of Bilitis, inspired by the American Daughters of Bilitis group, was Australia's first openly homosexual political organisation, although it was short-lived. It was followed by the gay rights organisation Society Five, which formed in 1971. Additional rights organisations followed, including the Homosexual Law Reform Coalition in 1975 and the Gay Teachers Group in the late 1970s, both of which were also based in Melbourne.
The Victorian LGBT community monitored events in South Australia surrounding the decriminalisation of homosexuality which took place between 1972 and 1975. In 1976, The Age reported that police had used entrapment to make mass arrests at Victoria's Black Rock Beach which angered the LGBT community and gave the issue wide public attention across Australia. Amidst the storm of protest and debate, widespread support for the decriminalisation of male homosexual acts surfaced within the political mainstream.
The general age of consent for sexual acts was lowered from 18 to 16 in 1991 by the Crimes Act 1991.
Implemented by royal assent on and since 1 March 2022 – any remaining draconian legislation banning sex between consenting adults in private within Victoria were finally removed and repealed. In May 2022, the recently implemented legislation went into effect.
HIV transmission law repeal
In April 2015, the Andrews Government announced it would repeal Section 19A of the Crimes Act, a law which singled out intentional HIV transmission for harsher penalties of up to 25 years imprisonment, in contrast to the maximum penalty for manslaughter which was 20 years. As a result of the reform, intentional infection of HIV is now considered under existing criminal offences such as "causing serious injury". The Crimes Amendment Act 2015 passed the Parliament on 28 May 2015 and received royal assent on 2 June 2015, before immediately going into effect.In April 2022, a bill passed both houses of the Parliament and the Governor of Victoria granted royal assent became an Act – that repeals all HIV legislation within Victoria on mandatory public health disease notifications, blood donations and also human tissue services. The law goes into effect from 15 February 2023, or by proclamation sooner.
Historical convictions expungement
Victoria was the first state in the nation to pass legislation creating an expungement scheme for historical homosexual sexual offences that were no longer a criminal offence. The legislation was one of the final Acts of the Napthine Government, and passed the Parliament with bipartisan support on 15 October 2014. The scheme came into effect on 1 September 2015, and since that date an individual or an appropriate representative of a deceased person can apply to expunge historical convictions for homosexual sexual activity, that is no longer a criminal offence.Applications to expunge a conviction can be made to the Secretary of the Department of Justice & Regulation. After a conviction is expunged the individual can claim not to have been convicted or found guilty of that offence, ensuring they will not be required to disclose such information and that the conviction does not show up on a police records check. Without the law, men who were convicted have had to deal with consequences, including restrictions on travel and applying for some jobs.
Schemes of this nature now exist in all other jurisdictions of Australia.
On 24 May 2016, the Victorian Government issued a formal apology, delivered in Parliament, to the LGBT community, specifically men, who had been charged with homosexual offences in the state prior to its decriminalisation in 1981. Premier Daniel Andrews said in a speech to the Victorian Parliament:
Opposition leader Matthew Guy said the following:
Recognition of same-sex relationships
Same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage became legal in Victoria, and in the rest of Australia, in December 2017, after the Federal Parliament passed a law legalising same-sex marriage.Municipal relationship registers
In April 2007, the City of Melbourne set up a Relationship Declaration Register for all relationships and carers, and the City of Yarra launched its Relationship Declaration Register the following month. Under the programs two people may declare that they are partners and have this declaration recorded in the Relationship Declaration Register. Though the register does not confer legal rights in the way traditional marriage does, it may be used to demonstrate the existence of a de facto relationship in relation to the Property Laws Act 1958, the Administration and Probate Act 1958 and other legislation involving domestic partnerships. Both local governments discontinued the registers in 2018, after the federal legalisation of same-sex marriage.Domestic partnerships
Since 2008, Victoria has allowed same-sex couples to register their relationships as a domestic partnership, referred to specifically in the legislation as a "domestic relationship". The Relationships Act passed the Parliament on 10 April 2008 and received royal assent five days later. The law, introduced by the Bracks Government, allowed same-sex couples to register their relationship with the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages and amended 69 other pieces of legislation, ensuring equal treatment for registered relationships in most areas of Victorian law. The legislation was subject to a conscience vote in both houses of parliament; it passed the Legislative Assembly on 12 March 2008 by a vote of 54 to 24 before passing the Legislative Council by a vote of 29 to 9 on 10 April 2008. The law came into effect on 1 December 2008.In October 2015, the Andrews Government announced it intended to make Victoria the fourth state in the nation to recognise the marriages and civil partnerships of same-sex couples performed overseas, in the state's relationships register. The government introduced the Relationships Amendment Bill to the Parliament on 6 October, before it was passed by the Legislative Assembly on 12 November 2015. The bill passed the Legislative Council on 10 December 2015, with a key amendment attached creating a provision for the register to "conduct a ceremony in connection with the registration of a relationship". The Assembly re-worded the amendment, though retained the ability for the register to conduct a ceremony in connection with a registered relationship, and the bill formally passed the Parliament on 16 February 2016. The bill received royal assent on 16 February 2016 and became the Relationships Amendment Act 2016. Portions of the law that; provided for immediate recognition of a domestic relationship for unions entered into in different jurisdictions, removed the previous 12-month living requirement for couples, and recognised de facto relationships, overseas same-sex marriages and civil unions on death certificates, went into effect on 1 July 2016. Under the commencement provisions of the legislation, the entirety of law went into effect on 1 October 2016.
De facto relationship recognition legislation
In August 2001, the Statute Law Amendment Act 2001 and the Statute Law Further Amendment Act 2001 amended 60 Acts in Victoria to give same-sex couples, called domestic partners, some rights equal to those enjoyed by de facto couples, including hospital access, medical decision making, superannuation, inheritance rights, property tax, landlord/tenancy rights, mental health treatment, and victims of crime procedures.Civil union proposal
In March 2006, openly gay independent Victorian MP Andrew Olexander proposed a private member's bill to allow civil partnerships in the state, but the Bracks state government did not support it and did not allow it to be drafted by the parliamentary counsel.Adoption and parenting rights
Adoption
Victorian law has allowed same-sex adoption since 1 September 2016. In May 2014, the state conference of the Victorian Labor Party unanimously approved a change in the party's platform, in support of full adoption rights for same-sex couples. After Labor won government at the November 2014 state election, the newly appointed Equality Minister Martin Foley promised to amend the Adoption Act 1984 to allow for adoptions by same-sex couples. Foley said Labor would also tackle other inequalities, including the inability of a step-parent to adopt their partner's child and the inability of a gay couple to jointly adopt a child conceived through IVF. A review of Victoria's adoption laws, commissioned by former chief parliamentary counsel Eamonn Moran QC, handed a final report to the Minister on 8 May 2015.A bill to give same-sex couples adoption rights was introduced to Parliament on 6 October 2015. The bill, subject to a conscience vote for the Liberal/ National opposition, was passed by the Legislative Assembly by 54 votes to 26, with 7 abstentions. No Liberal MP voted in favour of the bill, however six of the eight National MPs supported the legislation. The bill proceeded to the Legislative Council. On 12 November 2018, the Council passed the bill by a margin of 31 to 8. Despite passage, the government failed to attract sufficient support for a clause in the bill which prevented faith-based organisations from being able to refuse adoption orders for same-sex couples, as conservative Liberal/National and minor party councillors voted against it. Only one adoption agency had reportedly threatened to cease providing adoption services if it was compelled to assist adoptions to same-sex couples. The amended bill returned to the Legislative Assembly on 9 December 2015, where it was promptly passed. The bill received royal assent on 15 December 2015 and came into effect on 1 September 2016.
Prior to that reform, same-sex couples could only be appointed as foster parents or guardians in Victoria, and they did not have the right to adopt a child together, even if that child had been in their care for years. In response to a 2007 Victorian Law Reform Commission report into assisted reproduction, surrogacy and adoption, the Brumby Government stopped short of granting same-sex couples full adoption rights.
A Supreme Court of Victoria decision in 2010 concerning the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 granted individual gay men and lesbian women some adoption rights by concluding that the state's Adoption Act 1984 "permits one person in a same-sex couple to adopt", opening the door to step-parent adoption for some couples. The Liberal Government of 2010–14 briefly examined the issue of same-sex adoption in the later stages of its term in office, though despite Premier Denis Napthine expressing an openness to reform, the issue was never substantially tackled by the Government.
Between 2017 and March 2023, only five same-sex couples within Victoria had been formally approved to adopt children. The convenor of support group Gay Dads attributes the low number to the long drawn-out bureaucratic process involved in adopting children in Victoria. Also, research has shown that for various reasons there has also been a national trend away from adoption, and permanent care is more common than adoption.