Let’s get moving on anti-vilification laws.

16 MAY 2023

Dear Friends,

I’m writing to you on the eve of IDAHOBIT with a strong resolve to see this incredibly important day honoured in the spirit it is intended.

IDAHOBIT is a day to celebrate joy, diversity and the wonderful way LGBTIQ+ people enrich our community.  It is a day of inclusion, a day of affirmation and a day to call for an end to vilification and discrimination.

Yet, recent attacks on the LGBTIQ+ community from extremist groups – including in my own electorate where several council-endorsed, family and community events have been relentlessly targeted – have shown us that vilification is escalating. It cannot be ignored. 

As a proud and active member of the LGBTIQ+ community, I am very concerned.

Now more than ever, we need to see leaders everywhere, stand in solidarity and affirm the rights of all citizens to live peacefully, with respect and with love.  

I acknowledge that the Victorian Government has committed to extending anti-vilification laws to protect members of the LGBTIQ+ community. Today, I am calling on them to do this with increased urgency. An eighteen month wait, as foreshadowed in response to my question in Parliament last sitting week, is too long in the face of the violence that is escalating in our community right now.

Cancelling events for fear of bigots is giving those bigots the very thing they set out to achieve. We need to be protected, not pushed into the closet and out of public life.

Tomorrow, I will be joined by my queer and trans staff to speak openly and honestly about our experiences and celebrate IDAHOBIT.

To all of my colleagues in Parliament – I look forward to working with you to strengthen our community as a safe place of pride.

To my constituents and my community – I want you to know that you are heard, you are seen and you are loved.

Stay safe, stay proud and happy IDAHOBIT.

Yours sincerely,

Rachel Payne MP
Member for South-Eastern Metropolitan Region


CC:
Daniel Andrews, Premier of Victoria,
John Pesutto, Leader of the Opposition, Victoria, ,
Victorian Pride Lobby
Switchboard Victoria
Transgender Victoria
Transcend
Minus18
Rainbow Families Victoria
Rainbow Community Angels
Queerspace

[ENDS]

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