Human tradgedy

Australia's Human Rights Commission (HRC) has laws protecting everyone except heterosexual, married people:

The HRC even thinks it knows best how Australian sportsmen and women should behave. It has produced a website called Play By The Rules to tell administrators, officials, coaches, players and parents their responsibilities under human rights laws and conventions. It gives gratuitous advice about fair play and fair selection which anyone seriously engaged in sport would know full-well already.

One particular sentence caught my eye: “You have the right to not be unfairly discriminated against by decisions made by your club or association (e.g., decisions about membership, selection, access to facilities and equipment).” This brought to mind the case of the cricketer Denise Annetts, who in 1994 failed to be selected for the Test series against New Zealand. Yet she was in great form and had a batting average second only to Don Bradman of 81.9 runs in Test matches, with a top score of 193 against England, a world record for women’s cricket. What made this an even bigger news story were the reasons Annetts gave for her omission. She said that because she was heterosexual and married, the lesbians who dominated the Australian team did not like her and wanted her out. But when she took her case to the New South Wales Anti-Discrimination Commission, its officers said the relevant Act did not apply to her; the Commission could only act on complaints from minority interest groups such as ethnics, Aborigines and gays. No laws prevented homosexuals from discriminating against heterosexuals. Annetts gave up her attempt at selection and retired from the sport. Without her, Australia lost the subsequent Test series against New Zealand, two matches to on