Blue Mountains City Council Targeted By Far-Right Group In Recent Council Meeting
Image: Image: Mayor Mark Greenhill/Facebook
Another local council has been disturbed by a far-right group who turned up to disrupt the vote on a motion that would support the LGBTQ+ community.
The Blue Mountains City Council was in session on the 26th of April and was business as usual until a large group of people turned up and sat in the council meeting.
Mayor Mark Greenhill quickly realised that they were there to protest against a motion brought forward by Councillor Claire West and Deputy Mayor Sarah Redshaw.
“Members of the large group that turned up at our meeting told staff they were there in opposition to the motion,” Greenhill said in a Facebook post.
“Essentially they were there to oppose our support for people who face major discrimination every day of their lives.”
The Motion
The motion, titled LGBTQI Inclusion, sought to see the council continues its support of the queer community and “to promoting a fair, safe and inclusive environment for the LGBTIQ community.”
This includes “flying the Rainbow flag at Civic Place, Katoomba annually for the Mardi Gras Festival, and the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Interphobia and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT).”
The motion also outlined donating $2,000 to support IDAHOBIT Day and helping with promotion costs, as well as flying the Progress Pride Flag at Civic Place during special LGBTQ+ events and days.
While the motion passed with a majority, Greenhill told the Star Observer that due to a few councillors feeling unsafe with the group present, they had all agreed to push the motion through quickly.
The smart tactic to push through the motion without debate had left the group confused and unhappy that they couldn’t interject and interrupt the proceedings.
“I Won’t Stand For It.”
However, the ongoing rise in anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment is something that Greenhill says “we have a significant problem in this country.”
“We seem to be importing the worst of America at times. There are some really good things about the United States, there’s some really bad things and one of the really bad things is this post-Trumpian freedom movement,” he told the Star Observer.
“It has been targeting local councils for some months now…cause when you target the LGBTQI community, what you target is human rights. And I won’t stand for it.”
“Our city will walk beside our LGBTQI community no matter what and if I and my colleagues have to stare this movement down, we will.”
