Is it possible for a political party, whose members have historically labeled LGBTQI+ individuals as having a “mental illness,” to claim the title of one of Australia’s most supportive parties for the queer community?
This intriguing question arises in the wake of recent statements made by members of the One Nation party over the past week.
During a press inquiry, federal MP Barnaby Joyce dismissed the controversial remarks of former WA One Nation candidate Parminder Singh, which were initially unveiled by the ABC. Singh had described gay individuals as suffering from a “mental illness,” a statement that Joyce criticized as “highly offensive.”
Following his denunciation, Joyce asserted, “We’re one of the gayest parties in Australia.”
However, leading LGBTQI+ activists and champions of equality in Australia contend that the party must take further steps to genuinely earn the trust and recognition of the community as being truly inclusive.
“It’s probably fair to say the community’s reaction has been a mixture of confusion and incredulity,” Equality Australia legal director Heather Corkhill told SBS News.
“It’s not every day you have politicians from the same party declaring both that being gay is a mental illness and that they are the gayest party in Australia, all in the space of a week.”
‘We’re not homophobes’
Singh — who has since apologised for his comments — isn’t the only one to have said members of the LGBTQI+ community have a “mental illness”.
In comments first reported by The Guardian, One Nation WA senator Tyron Whitten said during a podcast interview segment about ‘gender’ in August last year that “there’s male, there’s female, and then there’s mental illness”.
“If you want to wear a dress, that’s fine. I don’t care. But … they can’t keep saying that, ‘Hey kids, that’s normal’,” he added.
“You’re going to be a boy or you’re going to be a girl. And parents that are promoting this, I think that’s child abuse.”
SBS News has contacted One Nation for comment on the remarks.
Joyce is adamant the party is not a “pack of homophobes”, describing that as a “vindictive trope” against One Nation.
“We’re not here to glorify, we’re not here to vilify. We’re here for people to live their own life,” he said on Tuesday.
‘Positions deeply hostile’
Jordan McSwiney, a senior research fellow at the University of Canberra, says while One Nation may accept the existence of the community, it “certainly doesn’t embrace this community”.
McSwiney listed past positions, votes and policies of the party on LGBTQI+ issues, including Joyce and Hanson personally opposing same-sex marriage and abstaining from the 2017 parliamentary vote, the party’s opposition to the now-abolished Safe Schools program, and what he described as its “anti-trans” politics, and “homophobic” remarks by current and former members.
Earlier this year, One Nation’s South Australian leader Cory Bernardi doubled down on past comments linking same-sex marriage to bestiality, saying his position had not changed.
In 2019, Hanson rejected a parliamentary motion to recognise intersex people, asking: “How many more of the 39 categories do we have to consider in this parliament? I just think it is ridiculous.” She recently took aim at “transgender ideology” that she said was “infecting society”.
In 2017 she sought to move an amendment to a draft law to protect civil celebrants who wanted the right to refuse to marry gay couples, saying: “I don’t believe we are fully aware of the ramifications this is going to have on our society.”
While she initially indicated she would vote in support of the marriage equality bill if Australians backed it, she ultimately abstained.
Corkhill says recent Senate bills and motions including the abandoned Sex Discrimination Act reforms, along with rhetoric about a “transgender insurgency” indicate many in the LGBTQI+ community “are still being targeted by efforts to roll back their rights and further marginalise them”.
“You can’t on the one hand claim to not be homophobic while retaining positions that are deeply hostile to the broader community, such as trans rights and opposing reforms that would end legal discrimination against gay students and staff in religious schools.”
McSwiney said while One Nation accept some parts of the community, that may not extend to others, including transgender Australians.
When asked about the party’s stance on the transgender community, Joyce said it’s a matter of personal spaces.
“As a father of four daughters, they don’t want to find someone in their change room who’s a bloke,” he said.
At the same time, Hanson has a history of condemning some members making homophobic remarks.
Hanson and the party’s former NSW leader Mark Latham had a falling out after Hanson labelled his homophobic slur toward a fellow MP “disgusting”, and urged him to apologise. Another candidate was dumped by Hanson in 2017 for saying “gays should be treated as patients”.
The party also includes members of the gay community. Its latest parliamentary recruit — South Australian MP Jason Virgo — is a gay man who once campaigned for marriage equality, and its national director, long-time staffer James Ashby, is also a gay man.
Corkhill says voters will judge political parties by their policies, their candidates and whether they’re willing to stand up for equality, “not by the sexual orientation of some of their members”.
“Having gay members isn’t the same as defending gay people’s rights and tolerating same-sex marriage isn’t the same as supporting the equality of the whole LGBTIQ+ community.”
‘I still don’t like it’
While One Nation may have evolved in its position on marriage equality to accept the status quo, some things have not. Hanson stands by her infamous “I don’t like it” remark in regard to Mardi Gras, saying people should keep their sexuality “behind closed doors”.
McSwiney says One Nation’s approach to the LGBTQI+ community has similarities to its stance on migrants — not celebrating, but tolerating them.
“They claim the ‘right gays’ … are the ones who just quietly go about their business and work hard, which is not dissimilar to the way they talk about migrants in this country,” he said.
“I guess you could say it’s quite an assimilationist, like a hetero-assimilationist approach as well to the LGBTQIA community in Australia. They tolerate that these communities exist, but they’re certainly not embracing it to be proud of it.”
Can One Nation win the pink vote?
The LGBTQI+ community, like every other, is not monolithic — and it may be that other One Nation policies and positions may win over voters.
“If nearly 30 per cent of the electorate is voting for One Nation, I’m sure that includes members of the LGBTQIA+ community,” McSwiney said.
“(But) I certainly wouldn’t say that they’re like a top focus group target. And they’re probably not going to win or lose seats on the back of that community.”
Human rights scholar Paula Gerber says the party still has work to do to win votes.
“Just saying ‘we’re the gayest party’, I don’t think is a vote winner. It’s about the substance that sits behind that assertion,” Gerber said.
“Unless there’s some significant recognition of how hurtful and offensive those positions and those comments are to the LGBTIQA+ community, an apology and a promise to do better in the future, I can’t see that the LGBTIQ+ community is going to feel comfortable voting for that party.”