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Michael Kirby
(1939 - 2006) Australia

Michael Kirby

Member of High Court

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Kirby is one of the few homosexuals at the top of the Australian establishment who have "come out".

Born in Sidney, Kirby was educated at a selective high school and the University of Sidney. Since then, he has had a distinguished legal career, including time spent as a state Law reform Commissioner, several stints as Acting Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, Chairman of the Australian Law Reform Commission and President of the New South Wales Court of Appeal.

In 1996 Kirby was appointed to Australia's highest legal body, the High Court. His "coming out" two years later, by the simple expedient of naming a man as his partner (since 1969) in his annual Who's Who in Australia entry, merely confirmed what was widely rumored for many years.

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Source: excerpts from: Aldrich R. & Wotherspoon G., Who's Who in Contemporary Gay and Lesbian History, from WWII to Present Day, Routledge, London, 2001

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