LONDON, May 12 — A man was charged today with the murder of American citizen at a notorious gay meeting spot in Sydney after a nearly 32-year legal battle, with LGBT+ groups calling for more investigations into unsolved gay killings in the Australian city.
His brother Steve led a campaign for a full investigation and in 2017 a coroner ruled Johnson died “as a result of actual or threatened violence by unidentified persons who attacked him because they perceived him to be homosexual”, police said. “Scott’s family never wavered in the fight for justice; dedicating their time and efforts to Scott’s honour, and today, I hope this arrest can bring them some kind of peace,” NSW Minister for Police and Emergency Services David Elliott said in a statement.
“The deaths and disappearances of gay men and transgender women and the epidemic of violence in Sydney and NSW during the 1970s to 1990s has left a traumatic legacy,” ACON, a NSW-based LGBT+ advocacy group, said in a statement.