Lyle Shelton has vowed to never apologise for comments he made about Queensland drag performers Queeny and Delta Good-Rim, despite being called to a conciliation process at the Queensland Human Rights Commission.

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Shelton, who previously lead the ‘No’ campaign against marriage equality, and was formerly the leader of the Australian Christian Lobby, unsuccessfully ran for parliament as part of Cory Bernardi’s Australian Conservatives at the 2019 federal election. Since then Shelton has shared his thoughts on politics and social issues via his blog site. He recently joined new conservative news site The Good Sauce as a contributor. 

The two drag performers were reading stories to children at a Brisbane Library earlier this year when they faced a protest from members of the Young Liberals. The protest was heavily criticised on social media, and Wilson Gavin the leader of the protest took his own life the next day.

Shelton posted a piece on his website that was critical of the event and the two drag performers. The post deploys what many would describe as crude terms to describe gender confirmation surgery.

The performers have raised concern about the content of his post and filed a complaint under Queensland’s anti-discrimination laws.

In his latest post, Shelton is adamant that drag performers are “dangerous role models” that are not suitable for children, and he says even though he could end up in jail and have a criminal record, he has no intention of apologising, adapting, or removing his post.

Tasmanian Senator Eric Abetz has referred to the case while sharing his thoughts on the topic of free speech. Appearing on the web-based conservative political discussion program Pellowe Talk, Senator Abetz said society needed to be extremely careful about where it drew the lines.

“One person’s descriptor, of whatever it might be, or firmly held belief, might then become somebody else’s hate speech.” Senator Abetz said.

Senator Abetz said that legal action taken against people including Archbishop of Tasmania Julian Porteous, former defence employee Bernard Gaynor, and the current case involving Lyle Shelton, were leading to a stifling of public debate.

OIP Staff

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