<
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/mar/29/australian-lgbtq-advocates-call-for-stronger-legal-protection-after-anti-trans-incidents>
"LGBTQ+ advocates are calling for stronger legal protections after a series of
attacks against Australia’s queer community.
This month neo-Nazis held a banner reading “destroy paedo freaks” at a rally in
Melbourne attended by trans rights activists, and days later an LGBTQ+ group
said they had been attacked by a mob while protesting outside a Sydney church.
Every jurisdiction in Australia has various degrees of anti-discrimination
legislation based on sexuality or gender in workplaces, schools and service
settings, but advocates say they are patchy and have broad exemptions,
especially for religious organisations.
There are no laws in Victoria, South Australia or Western Australia protecting
LGBTQ+ people from vilification, which covers inciting hatred in the public
sphere, whether online or on the steps of parliament. Vilifying a person
because of their race or religion is illegal in Victoria.
The legal director at Equality Australia, Ghassan Kassisieh, said the
patchiness of laws across Australia was leaving the community vulnerable to
hate speech and discrimination.
“Without offences in Victoria that deal with serious vilification, the police
have no powers to deal with Nazi salutes or hate speech directed at trans
people,” he said.
It only takes one person with extremist views to cause widespread tragedy and
anti-vilification laws will help prevent hate from spreading, Kassisieh said.
“That’s what vilification laws will do – they’re designed to stamp out the
ideology,” he said. “It will take more than laws but laws are an important
part.”
The Victorian government has agreed to implement anti-vilification laws and
last week in parliament the state’s attorney general, Jaclyn Symes, said
implementing the laws “remained one of her priorities”."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
