Media Release
Tuesday January 13th 2025
LGBTIQA+ Jewish group call for broader protections in proposed anti-hate bill
Attacks on LGBTIQA+ Community Parallel Antisemitic Attacks
An Australian Jewish LGBTIQA+ group wants the Federal Government to prohibit hate speech against LGBTIQA+ people as well as the Jewish community.
Aleph Melbourne spokesperson, Michael Barnett, said
“It makes no sense to us that half our identity is protected from hate and the other half isn’t.”
“The same ideology is being used to drive attacks on both the LGBTIQA+ and Jewish communities. Neo-Nazis and white supremacists want to eradicate gay and trans people as much as they want to eradicate Jews.”
“This is one reason why the Executive Council of Australian Jewry has in recent years backed greater protections for LGBTIQA+ people.”
“We call on the government to treat anti-LGBTIQA+ hate as seriously as antisemitic hate. There is no room for either in Australia.”
The Government today released a bill responding to the Bondi tragedy by prohibiting vilification and hate-motivated crime on the basis of race, but no other attributes.
Spokesperson for Just.Equal Australia, Rodney Croome, said,
“Passing laws against only one kind of hate means other forms are seen as legitimate and less deserving of a response.”
“One important lesson from the Bondi tragedy is that the Government shouldn’t wait until attacks escalate before taking tough action against hate.”
“National hate speech and hate crime laws should cover LGBTIQA+ people as well as all other Australians vulnerable to hate.”
“The Prime Minister has said ‘more could have been done’ to prevent the Bondi attack, so let’s now do more, not less.”
There has been an alarming increase in the number of anti-LGBTIQA+ attacks in recent years, often overlapping with antisemitism:
2020: Melbourne golf course defaced by homophobic and antisemitic graffiti
2021: Fresh concrete path in Melbourne defaced with “Kill Gays” and swastikas
http://www.outinperth.com/alarm-as-anti-gay-messages-and-nazi-graffiti-found-in-melbourne/
2021: Transgender flags outside Hobart Town Hall vandalised
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-23/transgender-flags-vandalised-at-hobart-town-hall/100643254
2023: A right wing mob violently attacked a group of LGBTIQA+ protesters holding a peaceful vigil in Belfield (NSW). Riot Squad responded.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-22/two-charged-after-protest-outside-mark-latham-speech/102127830
2023: A group of men shut down a “Wear It Purple” LGBTIQA+ information stall at Bankstown Central Shopping Centre (NSW), ripping down rainbow flags, spitting and hurling abuse.
2023: Neo-Nazis endorsed, and gave the Nazi salute at, a Melbourne protest and rally against people who are transgender, drawing an association between racial purity and gender purity.
2023: Anti-LGBTIQA+ hardliners threaten violence against Monash library and force closure of drag storytime event
http://www.outinperth.com/monash-council-cancels-drag-storytime-event-following-violent-threats
2023: Neo-Nazis target Jewish drag queen in Melbourne
2024: Cumberland City Council (NSW) banned books on same-sex parenting from its municipal library citing the “religious views” of the community. The ban was overturned 15 days later, but not until a significant venting of anti-LGBTIQA+ hate speech.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Cumberland_book_ban
2024: anti-LGBTIQA+ groups in Albany (WA) tore down Pride Festival posters and flags, called for LGBTIQA+ books to be banned from the library, harassed librarians and claimed an association between the LGBTIQA+ community and paedophiles.
2025: Melbourne gay venues Laird Hotel and Eagle Leather defaced with the same white supremacist slogans on the same night Jewish venues were targeted.
https://qnews.com.au/gay-bar-laird-hotel-graffitied-with-homophobic-vandalism
2025: Five teenage boys were gaoled in Western Australia for “planned and premediated” attacks on gay men, with one man punched, tasered and threatened with drowning.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09-23/teenagers-detention-grindr-attacks-men-perth/105807670
2025: Pride flags torn down in Launceston
2025: Gay men targeted by violent gangs in Melbourne and other cities
2025: Transgender memorial in Hobart repeatedly vandalised and painted with Nazi symbol
The ‘Private Lives 3’ study conducted by La Trobe University in 2020/21, which surveyed almost 7,000 LGBTIQA+ Australians found:
Click to access Private-Lives-3.pdf
35% had experienced verbal abuse, including hateful phone calls
24% had experienced being spat at and offensive gestures
22% had experienced written threats of abuse via emails, social media
15% had experienced threats of physical violence, physical attack or assault without a weapon
11% had received written threats of abuse
4% had deliberate damage to property or vandalism of a house
For a copy of this statement on the web, click here
For more information contact Michael Barnett, co-convenor, Aleph Melbourne, 0417 595 541, or Rodney Croome, Just.Equal Australia, 0409 010 668
20260111-Attacks-On-Queer-Community-Parallel-Antisemitic-Attacks
[PDF]
https://qnews.com.au/a-hierarchy-of-harm-labors-hate-speech-laws-exclude-lgbtqia-australians
