People who vilified the LGBTI community during last year's postal survey on same-sex marriage could soon be sued for it.
When former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull resigned from parliament this week following last week's leadership spill, he named same-sex marriage as his number one achievement. Although same-sex marriage is now the law of the land in Australia, many people still remember the coarser aspects of the public debate on other people's relationships during the postal survey, and how it made them feel.
Now the LGBTI Legal Service is launching action in the Queensland Anti-Discrimination Commission to attempt to get 25 of those who made hate-filled or vilifying comments to apologise, remove the comments from social media, or potentially face further legal action.
BuzzFeed News reported on some of the more extreme examples of vilification faced by Australia's LGBTI community during the postal survey, and LGBTI Legal Service had funding from the Queensland state government to collect some of the worst of the worst, picking up 220 examples of hate speech, from posts on social media to neo-Nazi posters.
From this, the service narrowed it down to the worst 25 comments and posters and has launched a case this week in the Queensland Anti-Discrimination Commission.
It means you won't see Lyle Shelton or anyone from the "no" campaign being asked to apologise, only the posters who made the more extreme or threatening statements about the LGBTI community.
The president of the LGBTI Legal Service Matilda Alexander said that through the conciliation process, the organisation aimed to find out who the people behind the Facebook posts actually were, if using a fake name, and seek an appropriate apology, otherwise the organisation will take further legal action through the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
"To those who would publicly vilify and condemn us for our simple acts of love, we say enough is enough," she said in a statement. "We have been shamed, shunned and looked down on for too many years. We have protections in the law and today we will use those legal protections to fight back."
Alexander said that the action was targeted at the more extreme end of debate for people who interpreted "it's okay to say no" to mean "burn the faggots" or "Hitler had the right idea about homosexuals, burn them".
"These shocking comments are hate speech and today we are holding perpetrators to account," she said. "The postal survey opened the door to homophobia and vilification being expressed under the guise of legitimate debate. This case will close that door."
The organisation is being given pro bono legal assistance from Clayton Utz.