Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan has announced a LGBTIQA+ helpline in response to a recent spate of vigilante-style “paedophile sting” gay dating app attacks on homosexual men.
The measure was announced on Saturday by Ms Allan and Minister for Equality Vicki Ward, who said the goal of the new helpline will be “to support LGBTIQA+ Victorians targeted by homophobic violence”.
The premier said it followed a “series of recent assaults where perpetrators used dating apps to target the LGBTIQA+ communities, particularly men” – but did not mention that most involve groups of teenagers or young men targeting homosexuals they believe are paedophiles looking for sex with underage boys.
Victoria Police said in May that more than 30 people had been arrested over the preceding six months, and described them as “primarily young males aged between the ages of 13-20” who assault, rob, threaten, abuse, film and publicly shame their alleged victims after luring them into meeting.
In June Christian Keryakus, 19, pleaded guilty to robbing and assaulting two homosexual men in Melbourne after pretending to be a 15-year-old boy on Grindr, and told police in an interview that he did it because “they’re just paedophiles”.
The new service will be provided by pro-LGBT group Switchboard Victoria via their Rainbow Door helpline, and will offer “free and confidential support from trained LGBTIQA+ professionals”.
“The service will give people clear advice on their rights, how to report incidents to police, and connect them with medical, legal and counselling services”, the government announced.
The helpline will operate from 10am to 5pm, Tuesday to Saturday, and is part of a $4.8 million investment the state government has made in the service.
But Ms Allan was mocked by many prominent Aussies including women’s rights activist Angie Jones, who said on X that it would “be nice if women could have female only support hotline and dating apps to spare us targeted harassment by men”.
Well-known Giggle CEO and Giggle vs Tickle appellant Sall Grover tweeted to Ms Allan that it “would be great if someone created an app exclusively for women…[so that women and] lesbians did not have to experience homophobic and misogynistic abuse online”.
Ms Grover also wrote that major LGBT organisation Equality Australia “intervened in a federal court case… against lesbians”, that they are “against spaces, events and definitions according to sexual orientation”.
“The hate towards the LGBs is coming from inside the house,” she said.
Lawyer and ex-Liberal candidate Katherine Deves added that if the Sex Discrimination Commissioner’s interpretation of Section 7D of the Sex Discrimination Act succeeds in the Giggle vs Tickle case, then the Victorian helpline “would be discrimination towards non-LGBTIQA+ people”.
The helpline is part of a wider “anti-hate” campaign being conducted by the Victorian state.
In July, the Victorian government launched an Anti-Hate Taskforce as part of their “action plan” against the increasing presence of sectarian violence and anti-Semitism in the state.
The taskforce includes the Premier, the Police Minister and the Melbourne Lord Mayor, and will meet next month with members of the LGBT community and other advocacy groups.
The taskforce is one of many initiatives that have been launched by the Victorian government to protect the local community and to repair the state’s rapidly fraying social fabric.
Other initiatives launched by the state include new anti-vilification laws, a “post and boast” law to stop people sharing crimes on social media, and an overall strengthening of laws in order “to protect Victorians from hate”.
The LGBT helpline is also one of many pro-LGBT programs initiated by Victoria’s Labor Government. Last year the government launched their Rainbow Libraries Program, while earlier this month the government came under fire for inserting radical gender ideology content in the school curriculum.
Header image: Ms Ward, left, and Ms Allan, right, with Switchboard staff on Saturday (Facebook).
