Neo-Nazi posters targeting LGBTI people found in Townsville

Neo-Nazi posters targeting LGBTI people found in Townsville

Extreme anti-LGBTI posters believed to have been put up by a neo-Nazi group have appeared around Townsville.

The posters, which depict the Grim Reaper wielding a scythe labelled “AIDS”, were distributed by neo-Nazi group The Antipodean Resistance, The Townsville Bulletin reported.

The poster also bears the words, “They’re queer, they’re here but not for much longer”.

The imagery appears to reference the notorious AIDS awareness scare campaign from the 1980s, which is believed to have contributed heavily to HIV and AIDS stigma in Australia – though many maintain the campaign was successful.

Another poster found in the Queensland city reads “Life or Death: Families or Faggotry?” alongside images of a mother and daughter juxtaposed with two men wearing leather. The poster also bears a swastika.

A Townsville man found the posters on Stanley Street and said he was unsettled by them.

“I’m in a same-sex relationship and I found it a bit disconcerting.

“You hope their influence is very small but the fact they are trying to spread their influence around other places in Australia is concerning.”

The posters are part of a recent spate of similar incidents, with the posters often linked to the same neo-Nazi group.

Similar posters were found in Melbourne in June, which attacked people living with HIV and mocked pride month.

Anti-semitic posters which also called for the execution of gay people were found in Sydney in March, with NSW Jewish Board of Deputies CEO Vic Alhadef  saying that New South Wales police were powerless to stop them being put up.

“It’s disgraceful, it’s horrific, it’s unacceptable that anybody in this country in 2018 can publically call for violence, death, murder against any group of fellow Australians,” said Alhadef at the time.

“The law in New South Wales effectively says, go for your life. Let’s wait until something happens before we take action.

“The police cannot have their hands tied in that way.”

Canberra and Adelaide were also hit with flyers comparing LGBTI people to Nazis in March.

Others bearing the words “stop the fags” were found around Melbourne during the postal survey last year, with even more making headlines just a week later.

In August, Queensland’s LGBTI Legal Service, which monitored instances of possible hate speech throughout the postal survey, filed a complaint of vilification against 25 people over their public statements about LGBTI people.

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3 responses to “Neo-Nazi posters targeting LGBTI people found in Townsville”

  1. Homophobia is rampant in north Queensland most of the conservative MPS Hate gays drugs are every were and Gays get bashed, Blackmail and Death threats are common the police will never help gays . Mining towns are having massive issues with druggies that put innocent people life’s at risqué and so many people live in total fear because its not safe to live here even the courts are Homophobic and the DPP and the police louse drug samples on a regular basis.

  2. I find it bizarre that neo-Nazi groups have decided to put themselves on a unity ticket with pro-sharia extremist muslims on the issue of gay rights. It’s the opposite of their European cousins in the Netherlands, for example.

    The most obvious explanation I guess is that Townsville neo-nazis are really, really stupid.

  3. Free speech,
    for those who practice this one side of free speech need to remember – what goes around comes around.

    Only life haters call for free speech- yet stop others from enjoying the same, these are generally Religious & Fascist groups
    Unfortunately they are all part of humanities balance, every living creature has its antithesis, they need us as much as we do not need them,.