‘Incredible’ Turn Out At Brisbane Counter Protest To Anti-Trans Rally
Image: Image: Storm Jury @capturingtheawesome
Huge crowds have taken to the streets of Brisbane on Sunday morning to protest an anti-trans rally.
Protestors turned out in droves in response to the “Fix the Act” rally, supported by Sall Grover, Drew Hutton, Kirralie Smith, Dr Jillian Spencer, and Pauline Hanson, who was originally scheduled to speak, but was replaced by her One Nation colleague Malcolm Roberts.
However it seemed those opposing the rally outnumbered them, in similar scenes to those seen in Melbourne last week.
Huge crowds turn up on response to ant-trans rally
The “HANDS OFF THE ANTI-DISCRIMINATION ACT!!! PROTECT TRANS RIGHTS” rally gathered at King George Square at 9:30am for speeches before the crowds took to the streets in a sea of trans flags.
“In the wake of the Giggle v. Tickle ruling, Pauline Hanson’s One Nation has seized the opportunity to attack yet another group of vulnerable Australians” organisers said ahead of the rally. “Join us as we protest the proposed amendments to the Equality act, that if passed would see even more rights stripped away from our trans and gender diverse communities.”
Footage posted by Gay Skate Brisbane showed a remarkable and heart warming turn out as what appeared to be close to a thousand people turned out in solidarity to march.
The sea of protestors marching against the rally were stopped at one point as the street began overflowing with the pure volume of participants, causing disruption to the morning traffic in the city.
With the group nearing the anti-trans rally point it seemed police were intent on keeping the two groups separate.
After waiting they were ultimately directed away from the rally by police, avoiding any conflict between the two groups.
“It was an incredible turn out against fascism today in Magandjin” said Storm Jury of Gay Skate Brisbane.
“Trans and queer community united with workers and unions to say no to hate and no to billionaire funded puppets.”
EDITOR NOTE:
A previous version of this story published early reports of attendee numbers from multiple sources on the ground, who stated attendee numbers of the ‘Fix The Act’ rally were between 30 and 50 people. The story quoted one attendee who stated “reports are that a tiny group of just thirty people attended the One Nation rally.”
Social media posts show that final numbers of the rally were more than 50 people, although reports vary on final numbers.
Organiser Nerissa Pace told Star Observer that “400-500 people” attended, while speaker Sall Grover told Star Observer there were “hundreds of attendees”. Australian & QLD Greens co-founder Drew Hutton posted on his social media page the day after the rally (13 July), stating 400 people attended – he later commented on the post to state he had used AI to estimate numbers from photos, alleging this counted 500-700 people.
Queensland Police Service declined to clarify attendee numbers of both the ‘Fix the Act’ rally, and the counter-rally led by various LGBTQIA+ groups, telling Star Observer that are “unable to assist” with confirming how many people were in attendance.
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Wow I didn’t get to go to that, I hope there’s another rally like this again very soon, because the more people and more rallies like this happen, people will start to stand and take notice.