Legal service to defend QAHC from attack

The Queensland LGBTI Legal Service last week announced that, following an emergency meeting, the organisation had decided to extend its operations to take on a concerted political advocacy role on behalf of LGBTI Queenslanders.

The decision was made in the wake of the Newman Government’s decision to defund the Queensland Association for Healthy Communities (QAHC).

“The recent and completely unexpected defunding of QAHC is a cynical move on the part of the Newman Government,” service president Merran Lawler said.

“It is designed to silence and destabilise the voices of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans identifying people in Queensland while the Government simultaneously looks to wind back civil unions and suffocate the vibrant range of LGBTI social, health and support services currently available, many of which are run by volunteers.”

Lawler said the Government had misrepresented HIV data in an attempt to justify its decision.

“It is disingenuous to suggest that QAHC, a body which received Government funding to address HIV amongst gay men, is in some way responsible for the increase in HIV infections across the entire Queensland community,” she said.

The LGBTI Legal Service did not see its expanded role as deviating from the focus of delivering legal services to LGBTI communities.

“Law is always intensely political,” Lawler said.

“The prospect of repealing a validly enacted law in relation to civil unions impacts directly upon legal rights and entitlements even though the motivation to repeal is itself entirely political.”

Lawler said the LGBTI Legal Service will rely on legal mechanisms including Right to Information requests and, where appropriate, will challenge Government decisions through courts and tribunals.

“At every turn we will hold the Newman Government to account for its decisions and policies where LGBTI people are negatively impacted,” Lawler stressed.