Senate Legal and Constitution Affairs Committee
Submitted via email: legcon.sen@aph.gov.au
Friday 5 April 2024
To the Committee
Inquiry into Right Wing Extremist Movements in Australia
Thank you for the opportunity to provide this short submission in response to the Committee’s inquiry into right wing extremist movements in Australia.
I do so as a long-standing advocate for the rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ) community, including in relation to anti-discrimination and vilification laws but also more broadly.
In this context, I express my genuine hope that the Committee, in its inquiry, looks at the role anti-LGBTIQ prejudice, and especially transphobia, has played in the rise of right wing extremism in Australia, in particular over the past 12 months.
The rise of homophobia, biphobia and transphobia since March 2023
There has been a disturbing rise in anti-LGBTIQ prejudice, including hate speech as well as threats of intimidation and violence, since early last year.
This has come from individuals and groups that can largely be described as being far-right in political ideology.
Some of the most notable events include:
- The rally against trans rights held in Melbourne on 18 March 2023, to which neo-Nazi groups turned up, performing Nazi salutes on the steps of Victorian Parliament, and shouting at trans counter-protestors while holding a banner proclaiming ‘destroy paedo freaks’ (emphasising the explicit anti-trans views of these fascists),
- The violent attack by so-called ‘Christian Lives Matter’-associated individuals on 21 March 2023 against a small group of LGBTIQ protestors, and NSW Police officers, in Belfield in Sydney, and
- Disgusting and offensive homophobic comments on social media by then-One Nation MLC Mark Latham to Independent Member for Sydney Alex Greenwich MP (which I will decline to republish here), the following week.
All of the above occurred within a two-week period. Sadly, however, the rise of anti-LGBTIQ hate speech and extremism did not end there, but has continued and in some ways worsened.
The 12 months since March 2023 have seen a large number of LGBTIQ and related community events shut down amid credible threats of intimidation and violence by right wing extremists.
This includes Drag Story Times (which are nothing more than voluntary gatherings where people in costumes read books to parents and their children, promoting imagination and inclusivity) being cancelled at libraries and other community venues around the country, on the advice of police because the safety of attendees could not be guaranteed.
Most recently, this included deaths threats against ABC employees forcing the cancellation of a Drag Story Time that was to be held in the lead up to the 2024 Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras, and a rally outside a Cumberland Council meeting in late February which was debating Drag Story Times (and which ultimately passed a motion banning them), with some protestors shouting offensively the word ‘trannies’.
It should obviously be noted that drag is not necessarily the same as LGBTIQ, although there is significant cross-over in the entertainers who perform in drag (with many being same-gender attracted and/or gender diverse) and importantly with the people who are against both conflating the two in any event (as seen clearly at the Cumberland Council protest).
The impact of these cumulative developments on the LGBTIQ community has been profound, with legitimate fears for our safety against this rising tide of extremism.
I write that as a privileged cisgender gay man, who has been out for more than 25 years and who has been advocating on LGBTIQ rights for almost as long – but who has felt less safe in public over the past year than at any point this century.
This feeling of vulnerability has been compounded by the sense the Commonwealth Government has effectively left us on our own in the face of these attacks.
The Commonwealth Government has been missing in action on anti-LGBTIQ extremism
Disappointingly, the Commonwealth Government’s response to the specific element of anti-LGBTIQ prejudice, and especially transphobia, in the overall rise of right wing extremism over the past 12 months has ranged from inadequate and incomplete, to completely absent.
Admittedly, there was widespread condemnation of Mr Latham’s tweets about Mr Greenwich, including the homophobic nature of his communications. Which was welcome, but that’s about as far as it goes.
The Commonwealth Government’s response, including its public comments, to the anti-trans neo-Nazi display on the steps of Victorian Parliament concentrated on the Nazi aspect of this activity (which obviously deserves condemnation) while largely ignoring the transphobia at its core (which is no less worthy of political denunciation).
This can be seen through its legislative response in Parliament, including in the Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment (Prohibited Hate Symbols and Other Measures) Bill 2023, which focused on the public display of Nazi symbols, including people engaging in Nazi salutes, while not addressing hate speech against LGBTIQ people more generally.
My understanding of this legislation is that it would not capture a situation of a group of thugs dressed in black assembling on the steps of Victorian Parliament, shouting at trans people and waving a banner which says ‘destroy paedo freaks’, provided they did not also wear Nazi symbols or perform a Nazi salute.
For the trans people targeted, surely both situations are intimidating – but only one is now regulated.
The Commonwealth Government has also been missing in action in terms of addressing the right wing threats of intimidation and violence against LGBTIQ and related community events, including Drag Story Times, shutting down gatherings right around the country.
This is a national problem requiring a national response, and yet I cannot recall a single strong public condemnation from a senior Government Minister, from the Prime Minister down, to this phenomenon.
Nor has there been any kind of legislative response, or funding for LGBTIQ community organisations and/or Local Governments, to increase safety to allow these events to proceed.
Indeed, in the absence of clear Commonwealth Government action (and, it must be said, lack of State and Territory Government action too), it has been left up to the LGBTIQ community itself, through initiatives such as Rainbow Community Angels, to enable events like Drag Story Time go ahead in spite of right wing extremist threats.
The fact the Commonwealth Government has been missing in action on anti-LGBTIQ prejudice is reinforced by comparing its actions over the past 12 months to religious hate speech and threats of intimidation and violence against religious minorities.
There have been repeated strong public condemnation of anti-semitism from the Prime Minister, and multiple other senior Government Ministers including the Attorney-General.
There have been repeated promises to introduce Commonwealth laws to prohibit vilification on the basis of religious belief (with these laws expected to be introduced shortly despite the Government’s simultaneous refusal to implement its broader commitment to a Religious Discrimination Bill and Sex Discrimination Act amendments to protect LGBTQ students and teachers in religious schools in the absence of agreement from the Opposition).
The Commonwealth Government has also announced, and delivered, tens of millions of dollars to faith-based organisations to enhance their and their respective communities’ safety (with the Attorney-General announcing a $40 million grant round on 17 May 2023, coincidentally the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia, or IDAHOBIT).
The LGBTIQ community has not received the same commitments, or funding, from the Government despite facing similar challenges in terms of hate speech, threats, intimidation and violence.
What the Commonwealth Government should be doing to address anti-LGBTIQ extremism
There are a range of actions which, in my view, the Commonwealth Government should be undertaking to address increasing right wing anti-LGBTIQ extremism.
This includes measures which not only respond to the visible growth of this hatred over the past 12 months, but would also ideally help to prevent and reduce anti-LGBTIQ prejudice in the community generally, thereby removing what appears to be fertile ground for right wing extremists to recruit on and organise around.
These measures include:
- Clear public condemnation of right wing anti-LGBTIQ extremism
The basic starting point should be clear and consistent public condemnation of the anti-LGBTIQ, and especially anti-trans, extremism which has gathered pace over the past 12 months.
This should include statements from the Prime Minister, and other senior Government Ministers including the Attorney-General, and must leave no doubt that such extremism will not be tolerated.
2. Fund a national strategy countering anti-LGBTIQ prejudice
In the context of other recent domestic and international developments, the Commonwealth Government has sought to expedite a new national anti-racism strategy, in partnership with the Australian Human Rights Commission.
Anti-LGBTIQ prejudice is no less serious a threat as racism, with substantial impacts on the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer Australians. It too warrants development of a funded national strategy to help combat it, including initiatives to prevent homophobia, biphobia, transphobia and anti-intersex bigotry.
3. Introduce Commonwealth laws prohibiting anti-LGBTIQ vilification
There is currently no Commonwealth protection against anti-LGBTIQ vilification under the Sex Discrimination Act 1984. Protections at state and territory level are a patchwork replete with many holes, with anti-LGBTIQ vilification prohibited in Tasmania, the ACT, Queensland and Northern Territory, while civil vilification provisions in NSW cover only gay men, lesbians and some transgender people (although Crimes Act prohibitions on inciting violence apply across the LGBTIQ community). There are no protections in Victoria, South Australia or Western Australia.
The Albanese Government has an opportunity to address these gaps by introducing nation-wide prohibitions on vilification on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity and sex characteristics, based on existing vilification provisions in section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975.
This should be done at the same time as the Government implements its commitment to prohibit religious vilification, given there is little difference in the potential harm vilification causes these respective groups.
4. Fund safety initiatives for LGBTIQ community organisations and Local Governments
Similarly, the Commonwealth Government should be providing funding for initiatives to protect the safety of LGBTIQ Australians on an equivalent basis to the programs it has already delivered to faith groups.
This should include a grants program for LGBTIQ community organisations to upgrade their safety infrastructure, as well as to provide safety training to members of the LGBTIQ community to help protect us against the growing threat of right wing extremism.
The Government should also fund Local Governments to upgrade their own security settings, so that community events such as Drag Story Times can be held safely despite any threats of intimidation and violence emanating from far-right extremists.
5. Create and appoint an LGBTIQ Commissioner at the Australian Human Rights Commission
The above measures should be supported by institutional infrastructure to ensure they are delivered, and delivered in line with community expectations.
One part of this infrastructure, currently absent, is a stand-alone, dedicated Commissioner for Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Sex Characteristics at the AHRC (with responsibility for these issues presently an ad hoc, part-time responsibility of the Sex Discrimination Commissioner).
The creation and appointment of an LGBTIQ Commissioner would help to ensure that addressing homophobia, biphobia, transphobia and anti-intersex bigotry is given an appropriate emphasis both within the Commission and beyond.
6. Create and appoint a Commonwealth Government LGBTIQ Advisory Committee
Another current gap in federal institutional infrastructure is the absence of any Minister with dedicated responsibility for LGBTIQ issues, and/or specific office within a central agency with the onus for co-ordinating policy and service-delivery on LGBTIQ issues.
Nor is there a national LGBTIQ Advisory Committee to help present views from the full diversity of LGBTIQ communities across the country.
While all should, in my view, be created, perhaps the most important is the advisory committee – because perhaps, had the Commonwealth Government an existing consultative mechanism, they may have already taken action to address the rise of right wing anti-LGBTIQ extremism, rather than left us feeling like we’re on our own.
Thank you in advance you your consideration of this submission. Please do not hesitate to contact me, at the details provided, if you require clarification or additional information.
Sincerely
Alastair Lawrie
alastairlawrie 