Lyle Shelton has found a new target – and this time it is LGBTQI+ icon and Australia’s most famous drag performer Courtney Act.
Courtney Act recently steered her career to a new direction as the host of ABC’s One Plus One. Act also featured on ABC’s Little Kids, Big Talk. The RuPaul’s Drag Race star answered questions from children about gender. The video was posted on ABC Kid’s Community’s Facebook page, where it has racked up over 1.6 million views.
Shelton Launches Petition
While viewers praised the video, one person was not happy. Shelton, who has been tapped by Christian Democratic Party founder Fred Nile, as his replacement in the NSW Parliament, used his social media platforms to attack the ABC for having Act on the show.
Shelton launched a petition on his website to ask “the ABC to stop sexualising children and indoctrinating them into gender fluid ideology.” He added: “LGBTIQA+ drag queens are not for kids but the ABC is using them to indoctrinate little children.” The online petition has received around 730 signatures.
Shelton’s post invited ridicule from many social media users.
Having watched a lot of ABC Kids over the last 12 years, I can tell you that’s bollocks. Having watched the news over the same period, I can tell you Christian Churches have. People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.
— KerrBox78 (@KBox78) June 26, 2021
One Plus One
Shelton’s attacks aside, the overwhelming response to Act’s new show has been positive. One Plus One presents a series of in-depth conversations between Act and young Australians, who have impacted the world they live in, by striving for their own successful lives. It started off with a conversation with Lisa Origliasso, one half of The Australian pop duo The Veronicas.
If you missed #OnePlusOne tonight you can watch it on iView! @ABCTV https://t.co/tM7iqWO1X3
— Courtney Act (@courtneyact) June 28, 2021
The show was enjoyable and Courtney did well as a host, despite her initial jitters about being part of ABC’s One Plus One. In an interview with The Sydney Morning Herald, Act said that she was “very aware of the legacy (of the show” and that to was a “big and exciting responsibility”.
Later this mont, Act is set to reprise her role as 80s pop sensation Shazza in the West End production of Death Drop.
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