<
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/protesters-descend-on-council-meeting-to-oppose-drag-queen-event-20230426-p5d3bo.html>
"Protesters opposing a planned drag story time event have called councillors
paedophiles and derailed a Monash City Council meeting on Wednesday after the
south-eastern Melbourne council refused to give in to abuse and pressure to
scrap the family-friendly activity.
Key groups, such as My Place and Reignite Democracy Australia, which espouse
views often associated with alt-right or conspiracy theory thinking and can be
hostile to the LGBTQ community, rallied supporters to descend on Monash
Council’s offices in Glen Waverley on Wednesday night to demand the
cancellation of its sold-out drag queen event.
The council-run event, planned for May 19 at Oakleigh Library, will involve
drag queen Sam T reading books and singing songs to children and parents to
mark International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia.
Extra security staff and Victoria Police officers were arranged for Wednesday’s
council meeting to deal with the estimated crowd of 190 people. The council
debated whether to hold the meeting, before eventually opening the doors about
7.15pm.
Mayor Tina Samardzija was forced to temporarily suspend the meeting about an
hour later when questions about the drag event agitated the public gallery.
Protesters repeatedly labelled councillors “paedophiles” and called for them to
be sacked and arrested for promoting “sex in front of our children”.
Chants of “shame on you” and “hands off our kids” were heard. Meanwhile, a
group of about 30 counter-protesters protected by police in the lobby of the
council building were chanting “trans is beautiful”."
The “alt-right” have brought the “culture wars” to Australia as well.
Via
Guardian Australia.
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
