Thomas McCosker v The State was a criminal appeal case before the High Court of Fiji. Thomas McCoskar (also misspelt as McCosker), an Australian, visited Fiji in March 2005. He was subsequently arrested, tried and sentenced to two years' jail for sodomy. An appeal was raised on the basis of Fiji's constitution outlawing discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. On Friday 26 August 2005, his conviction, and that of Dhirendra Nadan, the other man involved, was overturned on constitutional grounds. Anti-sodomy laws were found to be incompatible with the country's 1997 Constitutional Bill of Rights. The debate over what conduct is culturally acceptable was at the heart of the constitutional arguments which were presented during the McCoskar High Court case (Nadan & McCoskar v State also cited as DPP v Nadan and McCoskar) and raised questions about the values enshrined in the country's Bill of Rights. The Constitution of Fiji was adopted in 1997 with a mandate to break the racially divisive legacy of the Fiji coups of 1987. Section 43, concerned the respect of traditional Fijian cultural values, in particular traditional titles, obligations, customs and ceremonies. It was designed to protect the specific interests of the indigenous Fijian communities. While the Methodist church in particular has always argued that homosexuality offends it on a cultural level, and it is not culturally appropriate for Fiji, the High Court disagreed with those arguments. The case is being seen as a victory for gay rights, in a country whose colonial legacy is dominated by strict Methodist values. (Most ethnic Fijians generally regard themselves as Christians, with approximately 65 per cent belonging to the Methodist faith.) Unusually among common law countries, section 43 of the Fijian Constitution requires that the Fiji Bill of Rights be interpreted in light of "public international law" and so it was necessary for Judge Winter to call on this body of international standards in deciding the case. The judgment calls very heavily on international standards and the way in which courts in other parts of the world have dealt with these issues. The Fiji Human Rights Commission submitted that sections 175 (a) and (c) and 177 of the Fiji Penal Code had become invalid immediately after the 1997 Constitution came into effect. In its submission, the Commission also stated that sections 175 (a) and (c) and 177 of the Penal Code were contrary to Section 38 (2)