Christian Lives Matter are making their presence felt around Sydney

Christian Lives Matter have made repeated headlines this year for incidents around Sydney, including protesting at WorldPride and counter-protesting an LGBQT+ group outside a church. But who are they?

Christian Lives Matter is a conservative Christian group that has amassed a large following, including 18,000 Instagram followers and 26,000 Facebook followers. It stirred up controversy at a protest in Belfield on Tuesday for its actions.

Christian Lives Matter is a conservative Christian group that has amassed a large following, including 18,000 Instagram followers and 26,000 Facebook followers. It stirred up controversy at a protest in Belfield on Tuesday for its actions.

BUT WHO ARE THEY?

The group are self-described defenders of the Christian faith who state on their Facebook page that they “want to make it known to the world, to our leaders, media that the blood of these Christian Lives Matters as much as anyone else. Time to take a stand, make a change, instead of watching blindly.”

Christian Lives Matter’s Charlie Bakhos, who manages the group’s Facebook page.

More than 500 people turned up to protest outside St Michael’s Church in Belfield.

The group was formed by Charlie Bakhos in 2017 in the lead-up to the marriage equality

postal vote and defined themselves as defenders of a faith that they saw as being under attack.

But many outside the group, particularly within the LGBQT+ community, believe they are hard-core far-right bigots who are the ones on the attack.

According to members in the LGBQT+ community, they have connections with far-right politicians including One Nation’s Mark Latham, who appeared as a guest speaker on a Zoom call for a reported 450 people that was organised by the group on March 7.

The group has reportedly orchestrated a variety of protests against businesses, public figures, groups and any idea that they see is disrespectful to Christianity.

NSW One Nation leader Mark Latham. Picture: Getty Images

WHAT EVENTS HAVE THEY ATTENDED?

November 20, 2017

Christian Lives Matters members called the public to action to sabotage LGBQT paintings and memorials.

After reports of damage to the paintings, Charlie Bakhos said: “Now that’s what you call a happy ending… God bless these boys who did a great job defending our city, our faith and our children’s freedom of innocence. Politicians, police and our leaders did nothing yet there are plenty of us ready to fight the good fight.”

February 22, 2021

Christian Lives Matter group staged protests at outdoor festival Live And Queer at Cathedral Square in Sydney. They allegedly tried to drown out the music with prays and waiving biblical banners.

No one was physically harmed during this protest.

February 4, 2023

Christian Lives Matters members marched through Newtown, King St, protesting gay pride celebrations.

The protesters reportedly chanted “pray away the gay” and entered restaurants and establishments trying intimidating the public.

March 5 and 14, 2023

Hundreds of Christian Lives Matters members gathered outside Channel 10 studios to protest The Project after homosexual comedian Rueben Kaye made a joke about their religion.

March 21, 2023

Christian Lives Matters members formed a counter-protested to a LGBQT+ protest outside a church in Belfield where Mark Latham was due to talk. About 500 people attended, two people were arrested and a police officer was taken to hospital after being injured.