The tragic case of a gay man who died on his honeymoon and was recorded as "not married" due to Australian law was a powerful driver for change, says South Australian premier Jay Weatherill.
Speaking to BuzzFeed News ahead of a bumper week in LGBTI law reform for South Australia, Weatherill said the tragic case of Marco and David Bulmer-Rizzi showed the devastating impact of discriminatory laws.
As revealed by BuzzFeed News in January, English man Marco Bulmer-Rizzi was met with a series of distressing hurdles after his husband, David, died during their honeymoon in South Australia.
Bulmer-Rizzi was told his late husband's death certificate would read "never married" and that had to have next-of-kin decisions approved by his father-in-law, as the Bulmer-Rizzis' marriage was not recognised in South Australia.
Later, he received an email from the Australian Department of Immigration and Border Protection informing him that his dead husband had overstayed his visa.
"I think the power of the Bulmer-Rizzi case is that it demonstrated that things that might be discarded as symbolic – the recognition of a relationship – can actually translate into real harm and real pain and suffering," Weatherill told BuzzFeed News.
"You saw that really powerfully demonstrated in this case, where a man and his husband were tragically torn apart through his death ... [Marco Bulmer-Rizzi] was dismissed and marginalised and treated with disrespect, at a time he should have been treated with sensitivity.
"That caused him an enormous amount of pain and made a difficult time even worse."
On Thursday Weatherill will apologise to the LGBTI community for historical discriminatory laws in South Australia.
The symbolic gesture will accompany the most comprehensive week in LGBTI law reform the state has ever seen, with four bills slated for debate in the upper house.
The bills, which passed the lower house earlier this month, cover relationship recognition, same-sex adoption, same-sex couple access to artificial reproductive technology and altruistic surrogacy, and making it easier for transgender people to change the sex on their birth certificate.
"There’s a lot of harm and pain caused by this discrimination," Weatherill said. "We thought it was an appropriate time to apologise to people who have been affected by it."
Weatherill added he was "reasonably confident" the four bills would pass the upper house, saying they passed the lower house by considerable margins.
However, if any of the bills fail to pass, Weatherill could find himself apologising for discrimination that remains entrenched in South Australian law.
"I suppose that’s a risk," he said. "The House of Assembly has already expressed its views, so we’re seeking to apologise on [its] behalf. I believe that’s appropriate under the circumstances."
While the LGBTI community has welcomed the reforms, South Australia has come to some of them relatively late. It is one of only two Australian jurisdictions where same-sex couples are still unable to adopt, and the only one with an explicit law denying lesbians access to IVF.
Weatherill said it was a matter of priorities.
"These things have tended to be advanced by private members," he said. "For one reason or another, the parliament has not been able to supply sufficient time to attend to these matters.
"I used the resources of government to commission the report and government time to debate these issues. It’s a question of priorities, and I’ve sought to make this a higher priority during my time as premier."
Weatherill also said the stark nature of the Bulmer-Rizzi tragedy assisted in making the bills a priority.
"It’s not a small matter to devote a week of government time to these matters to ensure they have been effectively debated, discussed, and passed through the parliament," he said. "It was a really powerful impetus for change, sadly."
Last week, the Australian LGBTI community was rocked by the suicide of 13-year-old Tyrone Unsworth, whose mother believes he killed himself after years of bullying for being gay.
Weatherill said the suicide was a "powerful example" of why South Australia cannot retreat from LGBTI-specific anti-bullying material.
Victorian premier Daniel Andrews and chief minister of the ACT Andrew Barr have both pledged to provide funding for LGBTI anti-bullying program the Safe Schools Coalition when the federal funding commitment runs out in mid-2017.
Weatherill did not give a similar pledge, but said South Australia's existing Respectful Relationships program covered bullying on the basis of same-sex attraction.
"We will continue to properly resource that and draw on the resources that have been prepared by the Safe Schools Coalition," he said.