TV

The ACL’s Lyle Shelton Had An Extremely Rough Time On ‘Q&A’ Last Night

"You know that what you're saying is complete nonsense?"

by Alex McKinnon  1 March 2016

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If you needed any proof that Australia’s got a long way to go when it comes to LGBTI rights, this week provided it in spades. From Nationals MP George Christensen comparing the Safe Schools program to “grooming” by child molesters, to pamphlets prepared by a former government minister claiming marriage equality will leave kids prone to drug abuse, sexual disease and mental illness, to former Prime Minister Tony Abbott coming out today calling Safe Schools a “social engineering program” whose “funding should be terminated”, the amount of hateful gronkship directed at LGBTI people lately has been sickening, and more than a little frightening.

Fitting nicely into this renewed environment of anti-LGBTI fear and hysteria is the Australian Christian Lobby, one of the most intransigent opponents of equal rights for same-sex couples and homosexuality in general. Last night Lyle Shelton, the ACL’s most recognisable figure, appeared on the ABC’s Q&A to push for a respectful, reasoned debate in the lead-up to the marriage equality plebiscite and also to remind everyone that gay people are devious trickster imps who cannot be seen in mirrors.

But if he was expecting a warm reception from the audience, he was pretty quickly brought back down to earth. The conversation quickly turned to how the Safe Schools program operates around things like bathroom policies in relation to transgender students. Shelton spent much of the night playing up fears around recognising and accommodating transgender students at school, and was rebutted every step of the way by a number of panellists and questioners, including Dr Kerryn Phelps, one of Australia’s most respected medical voices and a lesbian.

It was a theme that would dominate for most of the night, with some questioners lobbing Think of the Children-style questions to Shelton and others demanding he be held accountable for the damage the ACL and others are doing to vulnerable LGBTI young people. One questioner, a high school teacher and one of the authors of the Safe Schools program, challenged Shelton directly, talking of the vital impact initiatives like Safe Schools have for the people who need them.

Shelton and the questioner sparred over the material Safe Schools encourages transgender kids to look up, with Shelton invoking people like Germaine Greer and longtime anti-transgender psychiatrist Dr Paul McHugh as evidence that gender identity is an illusory concept.

The questioner had little time for Shelton’s theories, though, preferring to draw from his experience working with transgender kids in the classroom: “Ignoring the existence of transgender or gay kids is not going to solve the problem. We can dispute theories from many years ago, but the reality is that these kids exist in our schools today, and we need to help them.”

It didn’t get any easier for Shelton from there; despite having some friends in the audience, the mood of the room was well established, and a bevy of panellists lined up to hold his feet to the fire. Phelps in particular was incredulous at some of the questions from the floor, many of which seemed to demonstrate a complete ignorance of transgender issues and people. While the question of basic transgender acceptance should never have been raised in the first place, watching Phelps unceremoniously pick her teeth with Shelton was immensely satisfying.

Another questioner had little time for Shelton’s claim that non-nuclear families run counter to biology, given she was the daughter of two mothers. “You know that I’m sitting right here, don’t you?” Phelps interjected. “You know that what you’re saying is complete nonsense?”

But it was an old man in the audience who delivered the moment of the night. Addressing Shelton directly, the questioner asked what gave Shelton the right to speak for all Christians, given a solid majority of Australian Christians actually support marriage equality. “There are many Australian Christians who support marriage equality, but they don’t remember appointing Mr Shelton and the ACL to speak on their behalf. The example of Christ is completely contrary to what the ACL is promulgating with its hate campaign,” the questioner said.