Wendy Francis, the former Family First political candidate who also worked with the Australian Christian Lobby, has announced her retirement.
For the last fourteen years Francis has been at the forefront of campaigns against safe sex programs, anti-bulling programs, HIV public education campaigns, same-sex adoption and marriage equality. She’s spoken out against laws which remove the ‘gay panic’ defence in murder trials, and voiced her opposition to laws that ban conversion therapy.
In a video announcement from the Australian Christian Lobby the lobbyist said she was giving up full time work to spend more time with her husband and grandchildren.
The Australian Christian Lobby’s Executive Director Michelle Pearse said senior government ministers had expressed their appreciation for Francis saying she’d significantly shaped government policy since joining the conservative religious lobby group in 2010.
Francis has worked under four different Executive Directors of the Australian Christian Lobby starting with Jim Wallace who was subsequently succeeded by Lyle Shelton, Martyn Iles and most recently Pearse.
Francis made new headlines in 2010 when as a Queensland senate candidate for the Family First Party she posted to social media that “legitimising gay marriage is like legalising child abuse.” She later apologised for the comment.
During her time with the Australian Christian Lobby Francis has called for bans on footwear company Volley after they launched a campaign alongside condom manufacturer Ansell to promote safe sex practices.
She’s also complained to politicians about the ABC children’s program Play School featuring segments with same-sex couples, and led a campaign against the anti-bulling program Safe School Coalition.
Francis spoke out against the Queensland government’s move to allow same sex couples the right to adopt children. During the long debate over marriage equality Francis argued that religious organisations needed to retain the right to deny service to same sex couples when it came to hiring church owned facilities such as halls and function centres.
The lobbyist has also been opposed to Drag Storytime events, and any public drag performances. At one pointy Francis described drag performers being seen in public as the “pornification” of Australian society.
In 2017 Francis appeared before a Queensland parliamentary inquiry to argue against the removal of the ‘gay panic’ defence from murder trials. Queensland was one of the last jurisdictions in Australia to remove the defence option. Francis argued that removing the defense option would have unintended consequences for women.
Her crusades have included rallying against police acknowledging IDAHOBIT Day, lamenting laws that stop conversion therapy practices, and encouraging people to nominate books they’d like to see banned from their local libraries.
In recent times Francis has been up in arms about “sex ball boys” at a drag bingo event, and outlioned her belief that the LGBTIQA+ communities are part of a global conspiracy to remove the age of consent.
