BISEXUALS can now claim compensation for homosexual vilification, Queensland's highest court has ruled.

The ruling, published in a Court of Appeal written judgment yesterday, stems from a continuing legal battle between Gympie gun lobbyist Ronald Owen and lesbian Richelle Menzies and bisexual Rhonda Bruce.



Ms Menzies and Ms Bruce complained to the state's former anti-discrimination tribunal in 2005 after Mr Owen displayed a homophobic bumper sticker.



"Gay rights? Under God's law the only rights gays have is the right to die Lev.20:13," the sticker read.



The two women also claimed they were vilified in anti-gay comments Mr Owen made in media interviews and in a report to the Cooloola Shire Council.



In 2008, the tribunal ordered Mr Owens to pay Ms Menzies $5000 and issue an apology to her in the local paper, The Gympie Times.



However, it dismissed Ms Bruce's complaint because it said she had no standing as a bisexual person to lodge it in the first place.



A series of court cases followed, with Mr Owens claiming the tribunal's decision was unconstitutional and Ms Bruce appealing that her complaint should not have been dismissed.



The matters finally reached the Court of Appeal, where it was decided that bisexuals could claim vilification on homosexual grounds depending on the case.



"... an essential aspect of bisexuality is a sexual feeling of a person of the same sex, that is, homosexuality,"

Justice Margaret McMurdo said in the 46-page judgment.



"It follows that vilification of homosexuals is also vilification of bisexuals at least where, like Ms Bruce, the bisexual person identifies with homosexuals."



On the constitutional grounds, the court found it was unnecessary to determine some of the aspects of the case, but the Anti-Discrimination Act was not inconsistent with the implied protection of freedom of political

communication.



Originally published as Bisexuals have anti-discrimination win