"People are born and remain free and equal in rights"
(Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen, Paris 1789)

RKL: „Historic Decision“ - Great success of RKL-litigation offensive for the rights of same-sex partners. October 10th, 2005 the Constitutional Court of Austria struck down statutory partner benefits in social health insurance legislation on the basis that those benefits were restricted to partners of opposite-sex. Such discrimination of same-sex partners would not serve the proclaimed aim of promotion of the family, the Court said. This judgment is the first decision of a court in the history of Europe repealing a statute from the books for discriminating same-sex partners.

November 10, 2005: News

Rechtskomitee LAMBDA (RKL) with great pleasure welcomes todays bill of the Green party for opening up of marriage to same-sex couples, and calls on the other parties to support the bill. Ever more states are lifting one of the last prohibitions from marriage: the prohibition of marrying a person of the same sex. After the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Canada and parts of the USA recently the Republic of South Africa followed that suite. The Supreme Court of Appeals declared the limitation of marriage to opposite-sex couples to be in violation of human rights. Sweden is on its way to opening up of civil marriage for same-sex couples with the government studying the issue, and the Conseil d’Etat of Luxemburg criticized the government for proposing registered partnership; equal treatment could only be achieved by establishment of the equal right to marry.

October 20, 2005: News

Platform Against Art. 209: “Stigmatisation must come to an end”. Austria’s Federal President, Dr. Heinz Fischer, called on Minister of Justice, Mag. Karin Gastinger, to handle the right of pardon more generous for convicts under former anti-homosexual legislation. The President has the right to pardon convicts but he can only act upon a proposal by the Minister of Justice. As revealed this summer 1.434 men and women are still registered in the National Register of Criminal Convictions for convictions under prior anti-homosexual criminal legislation. While 476 convicts are registered under the discriminatory age-of-consent, Art. 209 CC, repealed in 2002, 558 men and women are still registered for convictions under the total ban of homosexual acts (§ 129 I b CC 1852) which has been struck off the books in 1971 (!).

Image: Federal President, Dr. Heinz Fischer (SPÖ)

September 15, 2005: News

Shocking Statistics from the Austrian Ministry of Interior. Call on all persons with criminal records from anti-homosexual offences: Platform Against Art. 209 finances litigation. As just revealed by the most recent answer of Austrian Minister of Interior, Liese Prokop, to a question raised by a member of Austria’s federal parliament, 1.434 men and women are still registered in the National Register of Criminal Convictions for convictions under prior anti-homosexual criminal legislation. While 476 convicts are registered under the discriminatory age-of-consent, Art. 209 CC, repealed in 2002, 558 men and women are still registered for convictions under the total ban of homosexual acts (§ 129 I b CC 1852) which has been struck off the books in 1971.

Image: Minister of Interior, Liese Prokop

August 3, 2005: News

Platform Against Art. 209: “Now also the Federal Government should have understood”. With a sensational judgment (H.G. & G.B. vs. Austria) the European Court of Human Rights again condemned Austria for its years of criminal persecution of gay and bisexual men and awarded two victims of Art. 209 a record amount of compensation: EUR 106.532,27. The two applicants had been convicted under Art. 209 to prison sentences: G.B. in the year 2000 by the Regional Court of Wels to three months, suspended upon probation; H.G: 2001 to 1 ½ years, without probation. H.G: spent 1 year in jail before having been released after the repeal of Art. 209. G.B. appealed to the Upper Regional Court of Linz, which on 20.02.2001 confirmed the conviction persistently denying that Art .209 violated human rights. H.G. did not appeal his conviction and directly applied to the European Court of Human Rights. He rightly did so, as the Court now confirmed that an appeal would have had no prospect of success.

June 3, 2005: News

In a sensational judgment (Thomas Wolfmeyer vs. Austria) the European Court of Human Rights today again condemned Austria for its years of criminal persecution of gay and bisexual men and it stressed that not only convicted but also acquitted victims of Art. 209 have to be compensated. Thomas Wolfmeyer is chair-person of Homosexual Action Vorarlberg (HAV) and has been convicted by the Regional Court of Feldkirch to six months (suspended) imprisonment for having engaged in consensual sexual relations with adolescents. On the occasion of his appeal the Upper Regional Court of Innsbruck applied to the Constitutional Court for the repeal of Art.209 CC. The Constitutional Court in June 2002 struck down the anti-homosexual statute and the Upper Regional Court then acquitted Thomas Wolfmeyer.

May 26, 2005: News

Platform Against Art. 209: “Federal Government victimizes homosexuals for a second time”. In its report 2005 Amnesty International for the fifths time in a row criticizes the treatment of homo- and bisexual men and calls for rehabilitation and compensation of the victims of Art. 209 Criminal Code (CC). Despite the fact that the anti-homosexual criminal law statute (Art. 209 CC) has been struck down by the Constitutional Court in 2002 its numerous victims never got rehabilited or compensated. Their convictions are still standing and included in the national registry of offenders. Pardons are persistently denied. Given this the European Court of Human Rights still repeatedly condemns Austria.

May 25, 2005: News

Rechtskomitee LAMBDA (RKL), Austria’s Lesbian and Gay Rights Organisation, with great pleasure welcomes todays call of the Green party for opening up of marriage to same-sex couples, and hopes for respective initiatives of the party in parliament. Ever more states are lifting one of the last prohibitions from marriage: the prohibition of marrying a person of the same sex. After the Netherlands, Belgium, Canada and parts of the USA recently the Republic of South Africa followed that suite. The Supreme Court of Appeals declared the limitation of marriage to opposite-sex couples to be in violation of human rights. Spain and Sweden are on their way to opening up of civil marriage for same-sex couples, and the Conseil d’Etat of Luxemburg criticized the government for proposing registered partnership; equal treatment could only be achieved by establishment of the equal right to marry.

May 24, 2005: News

The Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) in March 2005 hosted the meeting Coming out in Dialogue: Policies and Perceptions of Sexual Minority Groups in Asia & Europe. Among the experts invited RKL-President Dr. Helmut Graupner. The Final Report can be found here.

April 28, 2005: News

Platform Against Art. 209: Encouraging step but others should follow. The police authority of Kufstein ignored an order by Austria’s Minister of Interior to delete all data concerning victims of former anti-homosexual Art. 209 CC from police data banks and refused deletion. The Data Protection Commission now ordered the deletion of the data. After the repeal of the anti-homosexual criminal statute August last year police authorities initially in general refused to delete the data on Art. 209-victims. They insisted that they needed those data for the enforcement of the Art. 209-subsitute-provision Art. 207b CC.

February 12, 2005: News

Platform Against Art. 209: “Austria already to pay almost EUR 200.000,-- compensation”. Austria’s first prisoner of conscience (PoC) officially adopted by Amnesty International got rehabilitated yesterday. With its judgment in the case F.L. vs. Austria the European Court of Human Rights again condemned Austria for its years of criminal persecution of gay and bisexual men. The repeal of the anti-homosexual statute, Art. 209 Criminal Code, (in 2002) did not affect the victim-status of persons convicted under that law (age of consent of 18 for gay men vs. 14 for lesbians and heterosexuals). The Republic of Austria has to pay EUR 30.500,-- compensation to the PoC arrested in 2001, whose conviction has been confirmed even months after the repeal of Art. 209 and who has been denied any pardon.

February 4, 2005: News

Bisexual man released from institution for mentally abnormal offenders only upon probation. Platform Against Art. 209: “It’s a Shame!” Hopes dashed that the victims of the anti-homosexual criminal statute, Art. 209 (repealed in 2002) will find mercy under the new federal president elected last year. A bisexual man who in 1999 has been sentenced to one year imprisonment and indefinite-period detention in an institution for mentally abnormal offenders solely on the basis of Art. 209 CC and been released in 2001 only upon probation, will not be pardoned since the Minister of Justice refuses to propose such a pardon to the president.

January 20, 2005: News

The Austrian Social Democratic Party last Tuesday on its biannual Federal Party Convention took a sensational decision on the issue of equal treatment of same-sex couples. Besides immediate introduction of registered partnership (including stepparent-adoption) Austria’s biggest opposition party is heading towards subsequent opening up of marriage for same-sex couples. Ever more states are lifting one of the last prohibitions from marriage: the prohibition of marrying a person of the same sex. After the Netherlands, Belgium, Canada and parts of the USA last Tuesday the Republic of South Africa followed that suite. The Supreme Court of Appeals declared the limitation of marriage to opposite-sex couples to be in violation of human rights. Spain and Sweden are on their way to opening up of civil marriage for same-sex couples, and the Conseil d’Etat of Luxemburg criticized the government for proposing registered partnership; equal treatment could only be achieved by establishment of the equal right to marry.

December 02, 2004: News, Bundesparteitagsbeschluss

“Victims Despite Repeal of Art. 209”. Platform Against Art. 209 calls for immediate rehabilitation and compensation of all victims. With a recently announced judgment (Woditschka & Wilfling vs. Austria) the European Court of Human Rights again condemned Austria for its years of criminal persecution of gay and bisexual men. The repeal of the anti-homosexual statute, Art. 209 Criminal Code, (in 2002) did not affect the victim-status of persons convicted under that law (age of consent of 18 for gay men vs. 14 for lesbians and heterosexuals). The Republic of Austria has to pay EUR 61.000,-- compensation.

October 22, 2004: News

Platform Against Art. 209 calls for repeal of the substitute for the anti-homosexual Art. 209. Austrian Minister of Justice, Karin Miklautsch, in replying to a parliamentary question announced that the substitute provision for anti-homosexual Art. 209 Criminal Code, repealed in 2002, while being gender-neutral in wording, still is enforced nearly exclusively against same-sex relations. More than three quarters (78%) of all cases brought to court in the first half of 2004 concerned homosexual relations. All of the persons carcerated under that law were homosexual men.

Image: Minister of Justice Mag. Karin Miklautsch

September 16, 2004: News

Art.207b: Austrian Minister of Justice, Karin Miklautsch, in replying to a parliamentary question announced that the substitute provision for anti-homosexual Art. 209 Criminal Code, repealed in 2002, while being gender-neutral in wording, still is enforced unproportionate against same-sex relations. One third of all cases brought to court in the second half of 2003 concerned homo- or bisexual relations. And while half of all prison terms have been inflicted for same-sex relations, all of the acquittals related to heterosexual contacts. One man has even been convicted despite the fact that the court did not know anything about his partners; it did neither know their identity nor even their age (!).

Image: Minister of Justice Mag. Karin Miklautsch

July 10, 2004: News

Austria has its first AD-provision in federal legislation. The EU-Judicial Cooperation Act of 30.04.2004 (implementing the European Arrest Warrant) (BGBl I 36/2004, http://www.ris.bka.gv.at/auswahl/) obliges to refuse the execution of a warrant if there is objective ground for the warrant having been issued for the purpose of persecution of the person affected on the ground of his/her sexual orientation (§ 19). So far AD-provisions could only be found in secndary legislation (Decree of Guidelines under the Security Police Act), in traveaux preparatoires (Asylum Act) or in state-legislation (Vienna Youth Protection Act 2002).

June 24, 2004

Platform Against Art. 209: Minister of Justice should take example. Austria’s Minister of Interior recently ordered the deletion of all data concerning victims of former anti-homosexual Art. 209 CC from police data banks. After the repeal of the anti-homosexual criminal statute August last year police authorities initially refused to delete the data on Art. 209-victims.

September 1, 2003: News

Rechtskomitee LAMBDA: "Landmark Decision". As late as February 2003 the Regional Court of Klagenfurt insisted on its opinion that persons are committing an offence who abide to the safer-sex-rules and engage in oral sex wihout using a condom (but without ejaculation into the mouth). The Upper Regional Court of Graz now denounced that opinion.

May 28, 2003: News

Platform Against Art. 209: "Dangerous Shortage in Protection". As revealed lately the European Court of Human Rights again refused to deal with applications alleging the violation of fundamental rights of gay men in Austria.

May 28, 2003: News

Austria's Minister of Justice in replying to a parliamentary question justifies his practice not to propose pardoning of victims of Art. 209 to the Federal President. The Minister confirms that he did not propose a single victim of Art. 209 for complete pardoning. And in just one case, the infamous "love-letter-case", he proposed a partial pardon, so that the man had not to go to jail; but his conviction keeps resting on his criminal record until 2013.

Image: Minister of Justice Dr. Dieter Böhmdorfer

May 28, 2003: News

Art. 209 substitute used against gays only. Platform Against Art. 209 calls for immediate repeal. Minister of Justice, Dr. Dieter Böhmdorfer, in replying to a parliamentary question announced that the substitute provision for anti-homosexual Art. 209 Criminal Code, repealed last summer, while being gender-neutral in wording, is used against gay men only. There were no heterosexual and lesbian cases before the courts in 2002.

May 27, 2003: News

Karinthian Oral-Sex-Case: Regional Court of Klagenfurt Insists on Punishment for Safer-Sex Propagated by Health-Authorities.
Rechtskomitee LAMBDA: "Decision now rests with the Upper Regional Court of Graz". The Regional Court of Klagenfurt insists on its opinion that persons are committing an offence who abide to the safer-sex-rules and engage in oral sex wihout using a condom (but without ejaculation into the mouth). Violation of Supreme Court's Case-Law.

March 01, 2003: News

With two judgments published yesterday the European Court of Human Rights condemned Austria for its years of criminal persecution of gay and bisexual men. The age of consent of 18 years for male same-sex relations, contained in former Art. 209 Criminal Code, violated fundamental human rights, the Strasbourg judges held unanimously. The Court with its judgments gave way to the applications of two gay men convicted to suspended prison terms under the anti-homosexual criminal law Art. 209 CC and to the application of a 17-year-old adolescent who asserted his right to sexual self-determination.

January 10, 2003: News

Court Refused Release Despite the Repeal of Anti-homosexual Art. 209 CC. Despite the repeal of the anti-homosexual Art. 209 Criminal Code by 14th August the Regional Criminal Court of Vienna refused to set free a man who still was being detained in an institution for mentally abnormal offenders solely on the basis of Art. 209. This despite the fact, that not only the man but also the state prosecutor already in August did apply for his immediate release. Now the man will never see freedom again. He died in the institution.

December 23, 2002: News

Platform Against Art. 209: "A decision in violation of the Court's own case-law". As revealed lately the European Court of Human Rights again refused to deal with an application alleging the violation of fundamental rights of a gay man in Austria. Dashed hopes for justice, victim left with costs and expenses.

December 21, 2002: News

Platform Against Art. 209 calls for immediate release. Despite the repeal of the anti-homosexual Art. 209 Criminal Code by 14th August the Regional Criminal Court of Vienna refused to set free a man who still is being detained in an institution for mentally abnormal offenders solely on the basis of Art. 209. This despite the fact, that not only the man but also the state prosecutor already in August did apply for his immediate release.

December 13, 2002: News

Platform Against Art. 209 calls on Minister of Interior. Despite the repeal of the anti-homosexual Art. 209 Criminal Code the Police Department of Graz (the capital of the state of Styria) refuses to delete the data on a victim of Art. 209 from the police data-banks (EKIS). They would need the data for the enforcement of the Art. 209-substitute-provision, Art. 207b CC.

December 12, 2002: News

But Recognition of Same-Sex Partner as Stepparent Remains. The Austrian Supreme Court decided that joint custody would not be available to the mother of a child and her same-sex partner. The highest Austrian court however did not object to the recognition of the same-sex partner as a stepparent. In December last year the case of the two women caused sensation as the District Court of Donaustadt issued a decision truly groundbreaking for Austria. It held that the same-sex partner of the mother of the (then) six year old boy is to be considered as his full value step- and foster-parent in the sense of the law.

November 11, 2002: News

Platform Against Art. 209 criticizes contradicting case-law. After the Upper Regional Court of Vienna, despite the repeal of the anti-homosexual Art. 209 CC, having refused to mitigate the sentence inflicted upon a gay man, the Upper Regional Court of Innsbruck now decided exactly the other way. In 2001 the man involved in the proceedings before the Innsbruck court has been sentenced to 36 months incarceration for committing 25 sexual offences. 16 of the 25 offences have been offences under the infamous anti-homosexual criminal law Art. 209 CC.

November 5, 2002: News

Platform Against Art. 209 welcomes decision of the Regional Court of Innsbruck. After a number of decisions to the contrary now for the first time an Austrian criminal court has mitigated a sentence inflicted under the anti-homosexual criminal statute Art. 209 CC which has been abolished in August. In December last year the Regional Court of Innsbruck sentenced the man to 1 ½ years incarceration solely on the basis of the anti-homosexual Art .209 CC.

October 28, 2002: News

Austrian Minister of Justice, Dr. Dieter Böhmdorfer, did not realize his promise given four months ago, that he will order the prosecutor's office to institute proceedings for a renewed trial in the "Carinthian Oral-Sex-Case". Minister of Health, Herbert Haupt, on his side declared that one can engage in oral sex without condom and not get into conflict with the safer-sex rules of his Ministry.

October 07, 2002: News

Platform Against Art. 209 delighted. The chair-persons of the Austrian Social-Democratic Party and the Green Party, Dr. Alfred Gusenbauer and Dr. Alexander van der Bellen, formally assured that their parties will repeal Art. 207b of the Criminal Code (CC), the provision introduced by the right-wing government this summer as substitute for the anti-homosexual Art. 209 CC, which has been struck down by the Constitutional Court in June, if they will win the upcoming elections held in November this year.

October 04, 2002: News

Platform Against Art. 209 calls for clearing of criminal records and just satisfaction. Austrian Federal President, Dr. Thomas Klestil, by decree of 23rd September, ordered the waiver of the execution of the jail sentence inflicted upon a gay man in the infamous Art. 209-Loveletter-Case for his love-affair with a 16 year old adolescent.

September 30, 2002: News

Platform Against Art. 209: Worst apprehensions on Art. 207b confirmed. Despite the repeal of the anti-homosexual Art. 209 Criminal Code by 14th August the Regional Court of Korneuburg in August refused to set free a man who still languishes behind bars solely on the basis of Art. 209. The court argued that the juvenile partner of the man were "more dull" than other adolescents and therefore the "deed" would still be an offence under the new Art. 207b. The Vienna Appeals Court now confirmed this decision.

September 28, 2002: News

After the Regional Courts of Korneuburg and Innsbruck now also the Regional Court of Feldkirch refused to reduce the jail-sentence inflicted upon a gay man. In 2001 the man has been sentenced to 36 months incarceration for committing 25 sexual offences. 16 of the 25 offences have been offences under the infamous anti-homosexual criminal law Art. 209 CC. Since 1997 the law (Art. 31a CC) allows for post-trial reduction of the sentence if factors occur which allow for a more lenient treatment of the offender. Accordingly the convict applied that the jail-sentence inflicted on him be reduced to a reasonable extent so that the execution of the sentence would cease immediately.

September 23, 2002: News

Despite the repeal of Art. 209 the Austrian Minister of Justice refuses to pardon a gay man sentenced to incarceration under the infamous anti-homosexual criminal law Art. 209 CC. In December last year the Regional Court of Innsbruck sentenced the man to 1 ½ years incarceration solely on the basis of the anti-homosexual Art. 209 CC. Upon advice of his then legal-help-lawyer the man did not appeal. In spring this year the European Court of Human Rights initiated urgency procedure upon his application (H.G. vs. Austria, 11084/02).

September 23, 2002: News

Platform Against Art. 209: "Encouraging first step". After the repeal of the anti-homosexual Art. 209 the Vienna Police Authority now has given way to the application of a gay man for the deletion of his data (fingerprints, photos etc.) from the "rogues' gallery".

September 3, 2002: News

After the Regional Court of Korneuburg now also the Regional Court of Innsbruck refused to set free a man who still languishes behind bars solely on the basis of Art. 209. In December last year the Regional Court of Innsbruck sentenced the man to 1 ½ years incarceration solely on the basis of the anti-homosexual Art .209 CC. Upon advice of his then legal-help-lawyer the man did not appeal. In spring this year the European Court of Human Rights initiated urgency procedure upon his application (H.G. vs. Austria, 11084/02).

August 28, 2002: News

Platform Against Art. 209: Worst apprehensions on Art. 207b confirmed. Despite the repeal of the anti-homosexual Art. 209 Criminal Code by 14th August the Regional Court of Korneuburg refused to set free a man who still languishes behind bars solely on the basis of Art. 209. The court argues that the juvenile partner of the man were "more dull" than other adolescents and therefore the "deed" would still be an offence under the new Art. 207b.

August 23, 2002: News

Today the Criminal Law Amendment Act 2002 has been published in the Austrian Federal Law Gazette (BGBl I 134/2002, p. 1407). According to Art. I lit. 19b of the Act (p. 1410) Art. 209 CC is repealed. According to Art. IX of the Act (p. 1421) (in connection with Art. 49 par. 1 of the Federal Constitution Act 1920) Art. 209 ceases to be effective by the end of this day. The transitional provisions can be found in Art. X of the Act (p. 1422); therefore Art. 209 CC still has to be applied in all proceedings where on 14th August 2002 (0.00) the judgement of first instance will already have been delivered.

August 13, 2002: The full text of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 2002 can be found at www.bgbl.at

Austrian Federal President, Dr. Thomas Klestil, by decree of 31st July ordered a stay of execution of the jail sentence inflicted upon a gay man in the infamous Art. 209-Loveletter-Case for his love-affair with a 16 year old adolescent. Last year the president declined to pardon the convict. The man therefore would have to begin to serve his sentence by 1st December this year. Acting upon the renewed petition for pardon, in the wake of the recent decision of the Constitutional Court and the upcoming repeal of Art. 209, the president now however stayed the execution of the jail sentence.

August 12, 2002: News

As revealed lately the European Court of Human Rights refused to deal with the application of a 16year old gay adolescent, on whom was diagnosed a contusion of the head after he refused to name his sex-partners during a nightly four hours interrogation by detectives of the Vienna Police Department. Also the fact that in Austria the application of the juvenile had been decided by an official of the Vienna Police Department only is no problem for the Strasbourg judges.

August 5, 2002: News

Art. 209new inacceptable. The events around the creation in panic of a substitute for the unconstitutional Art. 209 Criminal Code should cost Austria's Vice-Chancellor Dr. Susanne Riess-Passer her membership in the Honorary Board of the Austrian lesbian and gay rights organisation Rechtskomitee LAMBDA (RKL). As the civil rights organisation announced today, it is unacceptable to keep the doors open for persecution, arbitrariness, discrimination and blackmailing. The bill co-sponsored by the Freedom Party (FPÖ) could not have been possible without the consent of the party's chair-woman.

Image: Vice-Chancellor Susanne Riess-Passer

July 10, 2002: News

Platform Against Art. 209 calls for the immediate release of all prisoners of conscience and for the compensation of all victims of the shameful statute. For Platform Against Art. 209 the repeal of anti-gay Art. 209 Criminal Code by the Austrian Constitutional Court is reason for gladness but not for jubilation.However, also now Austria has not yet found its full way back to Europe yet. For that end it would have to enact anti-discrimination legislation and to legally recognize same-sex couples and families.

June 24, 2002: News

Surprising news in the "Carinthian Oral-Sex-Case": Austrian Minister of Justice, Dieter Böhmdorfer, ordered the prosecutor's office to institute proceedings for a renewed trial. Minister of Health, Herbert Haupt, in his turn however said that Austrian health authorities still would require the use of condoms in each case of oral sex despite the findings that not each kind of oral sex involves a relevant risk of hiv-transmission. Information material of the Aids-Help organisations, which reflect current knowledge, should be adapted to the outdated rules of the health authorities.

June 24, 2002: News

The European Court of Human Rights exerts increasing pressure in cases concerning the anti-homosexual Art. 209 of the Austrian Criminal Code. For the second time now the Court applied its urgency procedure in such a case. According to rule 41 of its rules it granted priority to the case of a man, who last December has been sentenced to 1 ½ years incarceration without suspension by the Innsbruck Regional Court solely on the basis of Art. 209. The conviction was based on sexual contacts with male adolescents; contacts which are completely legal in the heterosexual and the lesbian area.

May 14, 2002: News

The Regional Court of Wiener Neustadt, which also was the trial court in the infamous "Love-Letter-Case", last year convicted a man, who had no criminal record, to three years incarceration. His "crime" was that he engaged in consensual sexual contact with young men of 15 to 17 years of age and thereby violated the anti-homosexual Art. 209 of the Austrian Criminal Code. This was made public by the Austrian Minister of Justice in replying to a question put forward by the spokesperson for judicial affairs of the Green Party, MP Terezija Stoisits. The Minister also revealed three further cases where first time "offenders" received jail sentences of 1 ¼ to 1 ½ years.

May 8, 2002: News

Austrian Minister of Health Herbert Haupt in the "Carinthian Oral-Sex-Case" again contradicted the Minister of Justice, who did not call into question the conviction of a hiv-positive man for obeying the state-propagated safer-sex-rules.

April 12, 2002: News

As revealed now the Upper Regional Court of Vienna last Monday again inflicted a severe sentence on a gay man. It raised the sentence of six months incarceration imposed by the first instance judge under the anti-homosexual criminal statute Art. 209 CC to nine months and even ordered that the man, who has no criminal record whatsoever, has to serve one third of it without probation. In his reasons the president of the panel said: "Austrians want it that way".

April 11, 2002: News

Consent of "Victims of Lewdness" "irrelevant". The first prisoner of conscience of Austria officially adopted by Amnesty International for years should suffer a remarkably severe sentence. Even half a year incarceration would be to lenient the state prosecutor says in his appeal against the three months jail-sentence inflicted on January, 15th.

April 4, 2002: News

The European Court of Human Rights displays unusual speed in dealing with the infamous Art. 209-Loveletter-Case originating in the conviction of a gay man to incarceration for his love-affair with a 17 year old adolescent (Wilfling vs. Austria, Appl. 6306/02).
As revealed now the Court last week also decided to ask the Austrian government for its observations on the application. Normally this happens only many years after the introduction of an application. The Austrian government has to submit its position until 24th June.

March 28, 2002: News

The European Court of Human Rights decided to apply urgency procedure in the infamous Art. 209-Loveletter-Case originating in the conviction of a gay man to incarceration for his love-affair with a 17 year old adolescent (Wilfling vs. Austria, Appl. 6306/02). "We are pleased at that decision", says Dr. Helmut Graupner, spokesperson for "Platform Against Art. 209" and representative of the applicant, "It shows that the Court takes the criminal persecution of gay men in Austria very seriously".

February 28, 2002: News

ALARMING! Every second first time offender under Art. 209 sentenced to unsuspended jail. Criminal statistics for the year 2000 recently revealed that - despite the all time low number of convictions under Art. 209 in itself (10) - the rate of first time offenders sentenced to jail without suspension reached the highest value ever: 50%!

February 20, 2002: News . Details of Criminal Statistics (p. 18ff)

At least in Vienna - European Standard After All
Rechtskomitee LAMBDA (RKL) welcomes Austria's first anti-discrimination law protecting lesbians and gays. With great pleasure RKL welcomed the provision against discrimination of lesbians and gays today adopted into the draft bill for a new Vienna Law on Youth Protection. While RKL was astonished by the vote of the Green party against the amendment, the vote of the conservative party (ÖVP) positively surprised.
Addendum 18.02.2002: In the meanwhile the Green Party announced to vote in favour of the amendment in the Vienna state parliament's session on 28th February 2002.

February 15, 2002: News

Judge refuses to label adolescent partners as "victims". The first prisoner of conscience of Austria officially adopted by Amnesty International has been sentenced to three months on probation this morning. Against the will of the judge, who last summer terminated the proceedings under the anti-homosexual criminal statute, Art. 209 Criminal Code, against the payment of a certain sum of money. The Vienna Appeals Court quashed that decision.

January 15, 2002: News

Vienna Appeals Court Quashes Gay-Friendly Decision: As revealed now the Upper Regional Court of Vienna recently quashed the sensational decision of last summer for the first time terminating proceedings under the anti-homosexual criminal statute, Art. 209 Criminal Code, against the payment of a certain sum of money.

January 9, 2002: News

The District Court of Donaustadt, Vienna, recently issued a decision truly groundbreaking for Austria. It held that the same-sex partner of the mother of a six year old boy is to be considered as his full value step- and foster-parent in the sense of the law. Rechtskomitee LAMBDA: "A Decision in the Best Interests of the Child".

December 6, 2001: News

Automatic Extradition Inacceptable in the Case of Antihomosexual Legislation. Platform Against Art. 209 today expressed its concerns that the planned European arrest warrant would seriously worsen the situation of homo- and bisexual men in Austria.

September 21, 2001: News

"Sheer Provocative Violation of the Law". In his now revealed appeal the prosecutor in the infamous Art. 209-Loveletter-Case seeks more than two years unsuspended incarceration for the man currently jailed in the Austrian city of Wiener Neustadt for his love-affair with a 17 year old.

September 6, 2001: News

Austrian Minister of Justice Böhmdorfer even Sanctions Impunity for Anti-Gay Hate-Crime. Austria's criminal judges are more and more expressing their discontent with the anti-homosexual statute Art. 209. With the hitherto most prominent examples of the Upper Regional Court of Innsbruck applying to the Constitutional Court for the repeal of the law and the decision of Vienna judge, Dr. Thomas Schrammel, to drop a case under Art.209 last Tuesday.
Image: Minister of Justice Dr. Dieter Böhmdorfer

August 30, 2001: News

August 24, 2001: News

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