The Honourable Peter Tree KC, who was a judge for 12 years in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia, and family report writer Madison O’Flynn featured on the James Cook University Law Students’ Society third Pride in Law panel recently.
Diane Ruhl, the 2025 Queensland Law Society Regional Lawyer of the Year, hosted the event in Townsville.
The June event was well attended by students, faculty and the profession, who heard about LGBTQIA+ issues in the law, and the support for students who identify when they enter the profession.
Mr Tree KC spoke about his early career, including working as a lawyer in Tasmania as someone who was openly gay when it was still a criminal offence to be gay in that state.
What stood out was while it might not have been legal, the support and collegiality he received from the profession was significant. He also discussed the challenges he had faced as a legal officer in the military when identifying was not allowed.
He also discussed the decision he delivered in his role as a Justice of the Family Court, in Re: Lucas [2016] FamCA 1129.
His Honour spoke about the requirement for a court order for testosterone therapy to develop as a male, in spite of the fact that there was unanimous support of the decision from counsellors, doctors, specialists and his parents.
“As if the general turmoil and challenges which being a teenager in our modern world generates are not enough, the additional burden of requiring an already vulnerable and highly – marginalised group to individually litigate to vindicate their identity seems inhumane. No other group of adolescents is required to do so. Having already traversed a far more difficult path than many of their peers, it can only serve to further increase their burden,” he said in the decision.
Ms O’Flynn spoke about her experiences in the legal industry, including working with children who identify has LGBTQIA+ and the trust that needed to be developed in a short space of time to work effectively with those children.
It was an educational, but also at times emotional evening, punctuated with humour – but it was certainly an entertaining rollercoaster of an event that covered historical views of those who are part of the LGBTQIA+ community, contemporary issues and challenges, and a look to the future.
The event was sponsored by Pride in Law, Townsville Community Law, The College of Law Australia, Townsville District Law Association, Shine Lawyers, Splatt Lawyers and Leo Cussen Centre for Law.
Many congratulations to JCULSS President John Williams and his committee for putting on another amazing event.
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