Showing Up For Trans Rights Is The Only Way To Beat The Far Right

By Charlie Murphy

Like a great majority of LGBTQI people, I have been shocked by the level of far-right mobilisation against our community during and after World Pride.

From Posie Parker’s travelling circus of hate, neo-Nazis at Victorian Parliament, and the violence committed by far-right Christian Lives Matter thugs in Belfield against CARR activists, many of us are left wondering what to do.

If we spy across the Tasman we see a hopeful answer. Aotearoa (New Zealand) drove out Posie Parker by turning up in their thousands on the streets, with Wellington having four thousand people march in the streets for trans rights, being called the largest pro-trans demonstration ever in the country.

In Auckland, they faced a religious right-wing mobilisation as well but beat them back by pure numbers.

Standing Up To Bigots

It’s up to us in Sydney to do the same thing. After the state election, the Liberals have been routed and One Nation’s vote crashed which makes it unlikely they will gain more than one upper house seat from this election.

Mark Latham’s rabid obsession with trans people in education is deeply alienating and appears as obviously bigoted to most people except to a fringe minority of weirdos like Christian Lives Matter. Their violence is intended to scare us into silence despite the fact that the majority of society stands alongside us.

An election loss for CLM’s party of choice, One Nation, will hurt their confidence, but it’s not enough.

Not satisfied with harassing pre-schools, or tearing down the signs by survivors of sexual assault, they’ve now bashed members of our own community, doxxed their victims, and then the day after the election harassed an abortion clinic and intimidated women’s rights activists.

Every day that the government retains the right to discriminate in our laws emboldens these bigots, and we need to stand up to these laws while protesting the bigots.

Safety In Numbers

There is no need to ‘wait and see’ or feel complacent with Chris Minns’ victory. The NSW Labor party has already preemptively opposed Greenwich’s Equality Bill, making no commitments to removing exceptions for discrimination in the Anti-Discrimination Act or Birth Certificate Reform.

As Labor now look like they are heading towards a minority government, needing Alex’s vote, pressure must be on both Labor and the independents supporting him to have no compromises on LGBTI rights.

We must not be content with the half promise of doing away with conversion therapy, or more endless reviews into which we already know we are discriminated against. The changes needed are clear. We need our rights immediately.

If Posie Parker can be made to flee back to TERF island by the numbers, we can by the numbers demand the Minns government grant equality without exceptions for trans people. Our rights, our strength, and our safety is in our numbers.

Let’s outdo Aotearoa – this Sunday, April 2, let’s fill out Newtown Pride Square at 1 pm by the thousands for Trans Day of Visibility.