Husband Johan van Vloten

Queer Places:
Fort Street High School, Parramatta Rd, Petersham NSW 2049, Australia
University of Sydney, Camperdown Nuovo Galles del Sud 2006, Australia

Michael Donald Kirby AC CMG (born 18 March 1939) is an Australian jurist and academic who is a former Justice of the High Court of Australia, serving from 1996 to 2009. He has remained active in retirement; in May 2013 he was appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council to lead an inquiry into human rights abuses in North Korea, which reported in February 2014.

Kirby has been openly gay since around 1984. He has lived since 1969 with Johan Van Vloten, who migrated to Australia from the Netherlands in 1963 and in 1999 Kirby listed him as his long-term partner in Who's Who in Australia. Van Vloten helped people living with HIV and Kirby became involved in the issue both within Australia and internationally.[42] Kirby has often spoken publicly in support of gay rights.[43] While President of the International Commission of Jurists he encouraged that organisation to give more consideration to human sexuality as an aspect of human rights,[44] and as an Anglican he has expressed disappointment at his church's stance on gay rights.[45] In 2002, at the Sydney Gay Games VI, Kirby was the keynote speaker at the opening ceremony. "The movement for equality is unstoppable. Its message will eventually reach the four corners of the world," he told a crowd of 35,000.[46][47] In 2006, he attended the International Conference on LGBT Human Rights in Montreal, presiding over the Asia-Pacific Plenary.

Kirby is religious, describing himself as a "Protestant Anglican Christian" and criticising clerical opposition to homosexuality: "I don’t want any old gent in frocks to take my religion from me and to me it is still an important aspect of my life".[48] In November 2007, he accused the Anglican and Catholic archbishops of Sydney, Peter Jensen and George Pell respectively, of hindering the acceptance of gay people in Australian society, stating that homophobia was "reinforced even to this day by religious instruction, and it has to be said, religious instruction from the two archbishops of Sydney".[49] Kirby also expressed disappointment in his "minority of one" status among his High Court of Australia colleagues, and conceded that "some of the justices perhaps have less liberal views than I have".[49]

Kirby was selected by readers of samesame.com.au as one of the 25 most influential gay or lesbian Australians in every year that this list was published, from 2007 to 2010.[50][51]

References:


Days of Love: Celebrating LGBT History One Story at a Time Paperback – January 29, 2026
by Elisa Rolle

Other references:

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