Gay vilification upheld

By Harley Dennett

A Queensland woman ordered to pay $23,100 to her gay neighbours for nine months of harassment has lost a Supreme Court appeal against the decision.

Jean Lawson sacked three lawyers during the appeal and was last month ordered to pay all parties' costs, including an additional $15,000 to Shane McCollum and his partner Tim Wilson.

Mr Wilson said he didn't understand how she was allowed to keep harassing through the appeals.

The abuse, which began in 2004, included being called “faggots” and “pedophiles” and false complaints to police, RSPCA and the couple's employers until they were forced to move away from the Logan City outer suburb of Woodridge in 2005.

The Queensland Anti-Discrimination Tribunal's original decision last November was the first time anti-gay harassment in that state had resulted in compensation for pain and suffering. The Tribunal also ordered Lawson and her son to publish an apology in state and local newspapers.

“We moved there because we had this fantasy of being a gay couple living in the suburbs,” McCollum said after the first decision.