The Australian Christian Lobby has sent an election mail out in Victoria, spreading transphobia and trying to discredit The Greens.
Residents of the City of Yarra and Moreland City Councils contacted QNews after they received transphobic election material.
It arrived in their letterbox the day after Trans Day of Visibility.
The pamphlet from the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) was titled: “Male and Female Matter”.
It states that the Greens are “experimenting with biology at your expense”.
“Male and female matter, The Greens don’t agree,” the pamphlet read.
Siting that “while you wait for urgent medical care, The Greens want to use your tax dollars for free gender transition surgeries”.
The pamphlet also says that the Greens wish to put more gender clinics in hospitals while emergency departments are in crisis.
A web address connects to the ACL’s website titled: “Understand what you are voting for this election.”
The sender of the photos used in this article apologised that the pamphlet was crumpled in the images.
It was their automatic reaction when they saw it.
Photo: supplied.Targeting transphobia around the Greens’ trans candidate
Both the City of Yarra and Moreland City Councils have LGBTQIA+ Action Plans and host events for rainbow communities.
This targeting of transphobic election material in these areas is no doubt connected to the fact that Tara Burnett is running for the Greens in Cooper.
If Tara wins Cooper in the next federal election, she could be Australia’s first trans member of Parliament.
The Electoral Division of Cooper consists of Darebin City Council, part of Merri-bek City Council and part of Yarra City Council.
Upon announcing her bid for Cooper, the news focused on the fact that Tara is transgender.
There is so much more to her than that, especially when you start talking politics, and she shared this with us in last month’s Victorian QNews.
“When I was first nominated, I wanted to focus on the policy and the issues,” she told QNews.
“But the more people have brought up what my running means to them, the more I’m happy to be more forward with it.
“People are feeling that urgency, especially with blocking access to gender-affirming healthcare for teenagers in Queensland.
“This reactionary culture war is a lot closer to home than we realise.”
Yesterday, on Trans Day of Visability, Tara spoke at the Trans Day of Visibility/Action Rally in Melbourne.
“Our community has been through a lot,” Tara said on Instagram,
“We know from both the US right’s playbook and our local right’s complete lack of imagination that trans people, especially trans youth, are the thin end of the wedge for attacks on all of our rights.
“That’s why standing together like this is so important.
“It’s not enough to run a scare campaign about how things could be worse.
“We need to break down the binary and demand better, for everyone.”
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American-style disinformation attack
“I was so horrified to see that in my mailbox,” a resident of Fawkner told us,
“I’m so glad I didn’t send my enby kiddo out to collect the mail.
“I’m so scared for all others who have been exposed to it and the amount of harm it will cause.”
A Carlton North resident who emailed us pictures of the pamphlet says they’ve made official complaints, contacting the Australian Human Rights Commission and the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission.
“It’s fear-mongering, disinformation, bashing another party, and inciting hate against trans people,” they said.
“I’m hoping that this letter drop can be reported for breaching codes of conduct.
“And they can be stopped from dropping this offensive and hate-mongering material.”
As uncomfortable as they are sharing this information, they contacted QNews to let as many people know as possible.
“I needed to make sure I was making an effort to stop this American-style disinformation attack on politics before it goes further in Australia.”
The ACL spoke up last November when Labor’s Combating Misinformation and Disinformation Bill passed in the House of Representatives.
Calling the Bill “Orwellian” and “an unmatched threat to freedom of speech in Australia”.
The Government withdrew the Bill in December.
The link in the ACL’s transphobic pamphlets connects to their website with their voting options.
With Postal Vote applications sent out, the Australian Electoral Commission has advised that if you need a postal vote, to go through them.
“People should always carefully consider what they’re doing with their personal data,” they said.
“The AEC takes privacy seriously and operates under the Privacy Act, political parties don’t have to.
“This is why we advise people who need a postal vote to apply with us directly.
For the latest LGBTIQA+ Sister Girl and Brother Boy news, entertainment, community stories in Australia, visit qnews.com.au. Check out our latest magazines or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
