Ex-teacher claims Oscar Wilde law discriminatory

A former teacher charged with gross indecency — under the same 19th century law which writer Oscar Wilde was jailed for — claims he is being discriminated against because a woman cannot be charged with the same offence.

The man has brought a High Court challenge to the constitutionality of section 11 of the 1885 Criminal Law Amendment Act — gross indecency between males in private or public — and for which Wilde received a two year hard labour sentence in 1895.

Although that law was repealed in 1993, the former teacher is alleged to have committed the offences before the new legislation was brought in and is therefore charged under the 1885 Act.