Queensland priest Father Paul Kelly, who has gathered more than 22,000 supporters for his online campaign to close a legal loophole that allows people accused of murder to defend themselves by claiming ‘gay panic’, will tonight tell his story on Ten’s The Project.

Just over two years ago, a man was brutally killed in Father Paul Kelly’s church grounds in Maryborough. The defendants used the notorious ‘gay panic’ defence – that if someone they think is gay ‘comes onto’ them, the sheer panic they feel is partial justification for murder. The two men were eventually acquitted of murder but convicted of manslaughter (although their ‘gay panic’ defence was not accepted).

There have been a number of other cases in Queensland where non-violent homosexual advance has been put forward as a partial defence to murder.

Father Kelly (pictured below) was so outraged that the ‘gay panic’ law still existed in Queensland that he started a Change.org petition calling for it to be dropped – and now more than 22,000 people have signed it, including British wit Stephen Fry.

“I’m utterly appalled that a law that so revoltingly and openly discriminates against gay people is still tolerated in a modern society,” said Father Kelly, at the St Mary’s parish in Maryborough.

“Laws like the ‘gay panic’ defence are a crucial part of legitimising and reinforcing a culture of hate which means that 73% of gay and lesbian Queenslanders are subjected to verbal abuse or physical violence for their sexuality.”

Catch Father Paul Kelly’s first TV interview about his campaign tonight (Tuesday 24 Jan) on The Project, airing 6pm on Ten.

Show your support for Paul Kelly’s petition to abolish Queensland’s ‘Gay Panic’ defence here.