‘Disappointing’: Monash Council cancels drag queen story time event

Monash Council has cancelled a drag queen story-time event after threats of violence against families, the performer, councillors and staff escalated to include intimidation from neo-Nazis following a tense protest at its offices.

The south-eastern council’s meeting in Glen Waverley was derailed last week when almost 200 people attended, many protesting against its sold-out drag queen event planned for children and parents at Oakleigh Library on May 19.

People in the public gallery in the Monash Council meeting on April 26.Credit: Facebook/Real Rukshan

Extra security staff and police officers were on hand after fringe groups, including My Place and Reignite Democracy Australia, rallied supporters to attend. The groups espouse views often associated with alt-right or conspiracy-theory thinking and can be hostile to the LGBTQ community.

Protesters verbally abused attending residents and repeatedly labelled councillors “paedophiles”, forcing the council to adjourn proceedings. The drag queen who was to host the library event, Sam T, said she also had received death threats.

Unlike other councils, including Casey and Boroondara, Monash had until today refused to give into weeks of abuse and threats to scrap its drag event. The intimidation increased in recent days.

Screenshots from social media app Telegram show that Thomas Sewell – who leads Australia’s largest neo-Nazi group, the National Socialist Network – wrote in a since-deleted post on Tuesday that he would “bring as many Nazis as possible” to the drag event.

Monash chief executive Andi Diamond said the decision to scratch the event was made in consultation with Victoria Police.

“Councillors and staff have received messages that nobody should be expected to receive in their workplace, as have our LGBTIQA+ community,” Diamond said. “In recent days, these threats have escalated to direct threats of violence involving the event itself.

“It is incredibly disappointing to have to cancel an event designed to celebrate the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia, but we were left with no choice after Victoria Police advised council of the risks.

“In the end, we were unable to guarantee that we would be able to hold the event safely.”

Diamond said the event was designed to introduce children to diverse role models and encourage acceptance, love and respect, and she apologised to the LGBTQ community for the cancellation.

“I hope they understand we did not make this decision lightly and we share their disappointment,” she said.

“We understood this [event] was not for everyone and scheduled it outside our regular library programs so that parents planning to bring their children were making a deliberate choice to attend. Unfortunately, some in the community were not willing to allow that choice.”

A police spokeswoman did not comment on the force’s concerns for the drag event but said the decision to scrap it was ultimately made by the council after a risk assessment was conducted.

Greens councillor Josh Fergeus, who had been a vocal supporter of the drag event, said he backed Diamond’s decision, saying she had been put in an “impossible position”.

He criticised the state government for not providing the support needed to proceed with the event safely and said not enough had been done to combat the threat of far-right extremism.

Drag queen Sam T, who was to host story time at Oakleigh Library.

“I think the state government has essentially failed to take these growing threats seriously, and we now find ourselves in a position where local democracy is extremely vulnerable,” Fergeus said.

Last week, a spokeswoman for the state government said it would not step in to help councils beef up their security.

Sean Mulcahy, co-lead of the Victorian Pride Lobby’s rainbow local government campaign, attended last week’s Monash council meeting with members of the LGBTQ community.

Mulcahy acknowledged it would have been a tough decision for the council to call off the library event, but said the outcome was “incredibly sad”.

“The community is going to be hurting a lot,” he said.

“It’s an incredibly fraught issue because the No.1 thing is to protect the safety of children and parents, but at the same time there’s a real risk that cancellation will embolden the opposition and lead to further attacks down the track.”

Mulcahy urged the Victorian government to fast-track proposed reforms to anti-vilification laws aimed at protecting LGBTQ people. He said vitriol against the community had increased since an anti-trans rights demonstration outside Victorian parliament on March 18, where some in attendance performed Nazi salutes.

On Tuesday, Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes said extending anti-vilification protections was a priority and she hoped to have the legislation within the next 18 months.

But Mulcahy said: “We can’t wait 18 months. This is escalating.”

In parliament on Thursday, as news broke of the Monash Council decision, Premier Daniel Andrews criticised what he described as “ugly scenes” at last week’s meeting.

“This is hate speech, plain and simple,” he said. “It’s out of step with the values of fair-minded, decent Victorians. It’s on the fringe.”

Alt-right campaigns to shut down events for transgender people and drag acts started in the US and UK before making their way to Australia.

Dr Kaz Ross, who researches far-right extremism and conspiracy groups, said the decision to scrap the event was “completely the wrong move”.

“Councils have to stand up to this kind of bullying; this is really important,” she said. “Every time you do this [cancel events] you’re saying to the Nazis, ‘You’ve won.’ ”

Municipal Association of Victoria president David Clark last week said councils were grossly unprepared for the type of vitriol being hurled at them and fringe groups were unfairly capitalising on the close relationship local government had with community members.

There have been at least 15 councils statewide disrupted by fringe groups in recent months and the Monash protest was the most aggressive yet.

Among those who attended Monash’s meeting were fringe group figures who rose to prominence during anti-lockdown protests, such as United Australia Party senator Ralph Babet, Monica Smit, Avi Yemini and Rukshan Fernando.

Clark supported moves to close public galleries and hold council meetings online – as Yarra Ranges Council had already done – as an interim measure to deal with meeting protests.

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