Kate Emery: Social progress not assured as homophobia rears its ugly head in Australia and overseas

It’s tempting to think of social progress as a train that only runs in one direction. That is a dumb metaphor for a couple of reasons. For one thing, a train that only ran in one direction would be absolute rubbish. For another, no society can take its freedoms for granted. Google a picture of pre-1979 Iran to see what I’m talking about. Or take a squiz at one of the many news stories about US child rape victims denied abortions since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade. Australia isn’t in any particular danger of installing an Ayatollah Khomeini or even a Donald Trump any time soon. But that doesn’t mean that we’re immune from what’s happening in the US. As the saying goes: when America sneezes, Australia ends up with snot all over its face. (I’m pretty sure that’s it.) One of the more alarming social shifts happening in the US right now is around changing attitudes towards the LGBTQI community. (The slightly unwieldy acronym LGBTQI, by the way, refers to lesbians, gays, bisexuals, trans, queer and intersex people but you can really think of it as a catch-all term for anyone who isn’t as straight as the Eyre Highway.) Recent polls suggest that fewer Americans today view same-sex relationships as “morally acceptable” than was the case three years ago and fewer support trans rights. Support for same-sex marriage among US adults who vote Republican is also at its lowest point since 2016 — a year after the 2015 Supreme Court ruling that legalised it. The American Civil Liberties Union estimates that nearly 600 anti-LGBTQI bills were proposed last year thanks to conservative politicians who, emboldened by Mr Trump’s success, have dared to dream that bigotry and incompetence are no barrier to political office. Things aren’t so great over in the UK either, where trans people are being essentially banned from using public toilets and cis women who like short haircuts are being accused of being trans at the most annoying possible time: when they’re busting for a wee. Why this is happening is up for debate but it surely has something to do with increased LGBTQI visibility, the rise of right-wing populism and bad-faith attacks on trans people. The latter may wear the fig leaf of women’s rights or children’s health but it’s about as effective in achieving modesty as the average Bianca Censori outfit. In Australia, LGBTQI rights are mostly not under legislative attack. But there have been some grim signs of homophobia and, no, I’m not talking about West Coast Eagles midfielder Jack Graham’s use of a “highly offensive” homophobic slur in a recent match. Far more grim than anything to come out of Graham’s mouth was evidence heard in Perth Children’s Court last month about a series of assaults on gay men by a group of teenage boys. The teenagers used gay dating app Grindr to lure the men to secluded locations before attacking them. The one silver lining here is that the teenagers were dumb enough to film their crimes, which helped see them convicted and sentenced to time in detention. Similar attacks have taken place in NSW and Victoria in the past year. Earlier this month two Melbourne venues popular with the LGBTQI community were targeted with homophobic graffiti, while in April Victoria Police had to remove offensive homophobic highway banners targeting gay Labor MP Julian Hill. Meanwhile, former Adelaide United defender Josh Cavallo, who is moving to the UK, spoke about his experience as the country’s first openly gay male professional footballer and it wasn’t exactly all rainbows. Cavallo revealed he still receives daily death threats. In 2025. For fancying men. For every straight person who asks why the LGBTQI community still needs a Pride festival now that they have “equal rights” — and yes, there are plenty of them, every year — this is why. In the 35 years since homosexuality was decriminalised in WA, LGBTQI rights have had a bigger overhaul than Kris Jenner’s face. Discrimination on the basis of sexuality is illegal, gay people can marry and, while the WA Government is still dragging its feet on extending reproductive rights to gay couples and banning conversion therapy, both are in the pipeline. But what’s happening overseas should be a reminder that we can take none of this for granted — not unless we want to catch the express service back to the 1950s.