Councils across Victoria will host an emergency meeting on Thursday to discuss the growing crisis of far-right groups targeting LGBTQ+ events after another drag storytime was cancelled this week.
A drag storytime event at Woodleigh School on the Mornington Peninsula scheduled for Thursday has been cancelled. Another event which was set to take place at Eltham library in Melbourne on Wednesday has been moved online amid threats to staff safety.
The latest decisions mean at least 10 LGBTQ+ events across Victoria have been cancelled or postponed in the past six months after being targeted by far-right groups.
The deputy principal of Woodleigh School, Rod Davies, said they had been targeted by far-right groups after a Herald Sun article reported they were planning to host drag performers Frock Hudson and Dolly Diamond this week to celebrate International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia.
“Frock Hudson had been a guest at our school last year, and they and Dolly Diamond were both invited to read storybooks curated by our teaching staff at our junior campuses this year,” Davies said.
“As has been the case with a number of similar events, a systematic and targeted response by right-wing fringe groups led to the involvement of Victoria police, who advised that we should cancel the events to avoid any public altercation or disruption, which were among the actions threatened by those opposed to storytime.”
Davies said the school had a long history of inclusivity and support for the LGBTQ+ community and backed the yes vote for marriage equality.
The Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV) announced Tuesday that it will host a meeting this week for mayors across Victoria to help them manage aggressive behaviour. MAV’s president, Cr David Clark, said the meeting would focus on the increasing risk to safety with police and an expert in extremism addressing the mayors.
“With the well-publicised rise in disruptive and unpredictable behaviour at council meetings, this session will provide councils with the most up-to-date information from mayors who have been impacted, VicPol, and other experts,” he said.
It comes as the Victorian government and the Greens quarrel over the reform of the state’s vilification laws.
The Greens on Tuesday introduced a bill to the parliament’s upper house that would amend the state’s anti-vilification laws to protect people on the grounds of their gender, sexuality, HIV status or disability.
There are currently no laws in Victoria protecting LGBTQ+ people from vilification, which covers inciting hatred in the public sphere, whether online or in real life. Vilifying a person because of their race or religion is illegal in Victoria.
The Andrews government has already committed to changing the anti-vilification laws, with Victoria’s attorney general, Jaclyn Symes, telling parliament earlier this month that she intended to introduce legislation on the former within 18 months.
But the Greens LGBTIQA+ spokesperson, Gabrielle de Vietri, accused the government of dragging its feet.
“The Victorian Labor government has known about the need to expand our anti-vilification laws for years now, but refused to act,” she said. “Now we’re seeing neo-Nazis, the far-right, and even members of our own parliament feel emboldened to spout anti-LGBTIQA+ hate. ”
Symes said anti-vilification laws are “incredibly complex” and legislation takes time.
She said the government is currently undergoing community consultation and is working with religious and racial groups already covered by the laws, who have said the current system is not working. It is also working to ban public displays of the Nazi salute.
