Pauline Hanson said trans kids should be taken away from their parents and claimed she didn’t know what queer meant.
Pauline Hanson, the leader of the far-right One Nation Party and Senator for Queensland, has said that parents with trans children should have them taken away from them.
She made the deeply worrying comments during a discussion around Queensland’s historic vote which banned ‘conversion therapy’ in the state.
“Confusing kids and going to the doctor and parent’s saying ‘Look, my four-year-old they really can’t identify, and we want to change their sex.’ You are bloody idiots, how can a kid at four years old know if they want to be male or if they actually want to be a girl,” she told Pellowe Talk, without evidence that this is happening.
She added: “There’s more to this and these parents need their heads read or the kids taken off them, because they want to change their sex because the kid has gone and played with a doll.”
Hanson went on to claim that she failed to understand the usage of the word queer, ranting: “The Q is for queer, and I asked the question in parliament – well what is queer? I have no understanding, I’m sorry, I’m from the old school, I’m sick of all these letters. There are about 37 or 39 different categories.”
Luckily, queer isn’t a difficult term to understand, as wide usage of it within the LGBTQ+ community is for people who don’t identify as straight or cis.
Thankfully, not all Australian politicians are as transphobic as Hanson, as Western Victoria MP Andy Meddick took pride in revealing that both of his children are trans, and showed how to be a truly supportive parent.
Posting on Twitter, Meddick wrote: “Birth announcement: Our eldest Kielan has been on a unique and personal journey that (with permission of course) I’m now proud to share with you all. I’d like to announce the arrival of my daughter Kielan, aged 25 years. Both of our children are trans, and both are perfect.”
In a Facebook post, he added: “Your Mum, brother and I are proud of you, we love you. And no I’m not paying your phone bill.”
Ted Eytan via Flickr
Meddick has been a very pro-trans voice in Australian politics, and during a speech supporting a Victorian bill that allowed trans people to change the gender on their birth certificates without surgery, he said: “Look into your hearts, feel their pain. Doing all you can, as a parent (of a transgender child) isn’t anywhere near enough, when the law isn’t on your side or their side.
“They are a part of your family, and your community. And they deserve the right to stand proudly as who they are, like everyone else. With a legal document that allows them to get a driver’s license or open a bank account or for them to obtain a passport and travel is who they are.
“We can never move forward with acceptance for trans people unless they can be legally recognised as their true selves. I want each and every child, adult, parent going through this to know, you are not alone.
“We must lift up and support young transgender people, because the rate of self harm and suicide among them is the highest in our community. And it’s all because of the arguments of hate and hysteria, of closed mindedness, of values that are no longer relevant to our modern world.”
Hanson could, and really should, learn a lot from Meddick.
Related: Federal judge blocks Trump administration’s anti-trans healthcare rule
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