Political party Family First used Mother’s Day to argue against the rights of same-sex parents, as well as access to surrogacy and IVF, by targeting specific families within the LGBTIQA+ communities.
Warning: This article contains information that may be distressing for some readers.
A post to the conservative party’s social media platforms, which was also distributed to media outlets, implored followers to rally against any moves to make access to IVF or surrogacy open to same-sex couples or single prospective parents.
The missive against rainbow families included what was claimed to be an image of Western Australian couple Anthony Fisk and Joseph Hoang. Shelton claimed the children were “motherless”, a characterisation strongly rejected by Fisk.
The picture, however, was not of Fisk and Hoang and their children, but of a completely different couple and their family.
OUTinPerth contacted the family featured in the photograph used by the Family First Party for comment, but did not receive a response prior to publication.
The media release was described by the party as “a warning” from Lyle Shelton to politicians in New South Wales who might consider updating the state’s laws, describing any moves to change the laws as “radical social engineering”.
“It is not homophobic to say children deserve their mother,” Shelton said in the media release.
“What is morally worse is deliberately engineering a child to be motherless in order to satisfy the emotional desires of adults.
“Children are not lifestyle accessories. They are not products to be commissioned through reproductive technology.”
Shelton is the party’s national spokesperson and will be a candidate for the Legislative Assembly at the next state election.
Prior to joining the party, Shelton was the managing director of the Australian Christian Lobby and a leading voice of the No Campaign against marriage equality. Since moving on from those positions, he unsuccessfully stood for federal parliament for the now defunct Australian Conservatives, and later joined Fred Nile’s Christian Democrats. A falling out with Nile saw him find a new political home with Family First.
On the party’s Facebook page, some commenters went as far as making baseless and harmful claims about the couple, which were not supported by any evidence. There were also calls for the party to support a ban on divorce and to end all access to assisted reproductive technology.
Anthony Fisk says people who actually know his family have no concerns
Speaking to OUTinPerth, Anthony Fisk said he was surprised to be personally targeted by the political party and said their descriptions of his family were inaccurate. He believes most Australians have no problems with same-sex couples starting families, especially when they get to know them and see what their family dynamics are like.
“I don’t think there’s any conversations had with families that are going through this process, which I think is really important, and a lot of assumptions are made, particularly about kids and how they turn out as adults, based on a misunderstanding of how surrogacy works,” he said.
“Assumptions are made, and broad generalisations are made about people’s families and it’s quite offensive.
“There’s a lot of judgment made about how our kids will grow up and what their futures look like, and that in the future they will have counselling or psychological assistance, and that’s all based on people’s assumptions rather than the reality of the situation.”
Fisk said his children were aware of who both their egg donor and surrogate were.
Fisk said if Shelton and the Family First party were genuinely concerned about the welfare of his children, maybe they should consider if posting images of specific families and naming them was the right move.
“If there was really this deep concern for my kids, why would you go online in a public environment and start putting their photos up? It wasn’t their photos, but that was their intention.
“Why would you start saying, this is the problem with this family, and this is the problem with this child, and this is how they’re going to grow up, and make assumptions about their future?”
Anthony Fisk said he and his partner had decided to share their story with broadcaster SBS several years ago to raise awareness of challenges around Australia’s patchwork of surrogacy laws that differ in each state, but nobody from Family First had approached them prior to the media release and social media posts.
“There was no effort on these people’s behalf to understand who we were or what our situation was, or get permission, and no permission was given.
Fisk said the reality was that people who actually know his family do not have concerns about his children’s welfare or upbringing.
“In terms of schools and friends, and people they’re growing up with, everyone has been very supportive. I think it’s based on knowledge. It’s based on understanding who they are. When you see a kid, and the way they are brought up, and that they’re surrounded by love, no one expresses any concerns whatsoever.
“It’s only people who don’t know us. It’s only people who are doing things for political purposes or are removed completely from the debate and making assumptions about things that they know nothing about.”
Lyle Shelton says the families had chosen to make their stories publicly available
OUTinPerth asked Family First if it was aware the image included in its media release was not of the family it was highlighting.
After the inquiry, the image and references to the specific families were removed, but Lyle Shelton told OUTinPerth the families had chosen to share their stories in the public realm.
“Family First did not speak to either couple,” he said. “They had spoken about their experiences publicly and on their publicly available social media. Clearly they were not seeking privacy.”
Shelton defended the approach of highlighting specific families and using their images.
“Individual families had chosen to publicly detail surrogacy practices which remove a child from his or her mother. That allowed us to point to specific examples of the issue as a whole. They were clearly not seeking privacy,” he said.
Family First ruled out supporting calls for divorce to be banned, or a complete block on access to assisted reproductive technology. Shelton also said it was not possible for the party to monitor the comments on its social media posts.
“I don’t have the resources to monitor the thousands of comments posted, nor to verify the identities and motives of the people who post them,” he said, after concerns were raised about defamatory and unfounded comments appearing on the page.
Journalist and performer Dean Arcuri says posts from Shelton describing him as a danger to children have made him feel unsafe
Dean Arcuri, a journalist and the publisher of QNews, says repeated social media posts from Lyle Shelton portraying him as a danger to children have made him feel unsafe.
Arcuri, who also performs in drag as Frock Hudson, said Shelton has targeted him online for more than six years because of his involvement in Drag Queen Storytime events in Victoria.
“He has trolled me online consistently, highlighting events where I’ve been hired to perform for children around the country for years,” Arcuri wrote in a recent article.
In April, Family First issued a media release stating Arcuri, in his guise as Frock Hudson, was not a suitable role model for children. Shelton also criticised Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan for appearing on stage with Arcuri at Pride in the Park in Bendigo.
Shelton’s concerns about Arcuri’s work with children stem from images he located on Arcuri’s social media accounts, which Shelton says he considers inappropriate. Arcuri said neither Shelton nor Family First had contacted him to seek context or clarification about the images.
The images, both around a decade old, would be reasonably described as cheeky rather than risqué, and are certainly not explicit. Arcuri said the impact of Shelton’s ongoing commentary has been significant.
He said he has received multiple threats while at work, online, and in social settings. He no longer takes photos with younger family members because he does not feel safe. Arcuri said that following posts from Shelton he often encounters homophobic abuse and, at times, death threats.
Speaking to OUTinPerth, Arcuri said Shelton has spoken about him in print, online, during radio appearances and in television interviews over several years.
Arcuri said he has repeatedly experienced people approaching him, both while working as Frock Hudson and while out in public as himself, and making serious and unfounded accusations.
“I have had people come up to me in public and make accusations about my character, showing me Lyle Shelton’s tweets and blog posts in relation to me,” he said.
“He may say it has nothing to do with him, but it is clearly documented over multiple years that he is encouraging this behaviour. If he genuinely wanted it to stop, he could do so by ceasing to repeatedly misrepresent me based on two images from my social media.”
Shelton defended his approach, saying he considers the two images he identified on Arcuri’s social media accounts to be “obscene”.
“Dean has posted obscene images on Facebook and expects parents to think he is an appropriate role model for little children,” Shelton said.
“I make no apology for alerting parents to the character, based on their own social media presence, of the people whom the LGBTQA+ political movement wants to induct two to eight-year-olds into sexualised and gender-fluid queer culture.”
Shelton said members of the LGBTIQA+ community had compromised his safety on several occasions. He cited incidents including the public sharing of his home address and damage to property associated with the Australian Christian Lobby.
“If anyone was threatening Dean’s safety as a result of my commentary, I would be the first to condemn that,” Shelton said.
Queensland vilification case against Shelton is still before the courts
A long-running vilification case against Shelton remains before a Queensland tribunal.
In March appeal against a finding that ruled that Shelton had not vilified two drag performers in an online article and social media posts was found to be flawed and has been set aside.
In 2020, he published commentary on drag performers Johnny Valkyrie and Dwayne Hill.
The performers, who appear under the stage names Queeny and Diamond had hosted a children’s event at Brisbane City Council library. The event included stories read to the children, songs and craft activities.
The event, which has been organised by the council and local community group Rainbow Families, saw the performers read stories and play games with around 20 young children. Hill performs at adult orientation events as Diamond Goodrim, but shortens their name to Diamond for children’s events, while Valkyrie uses the name Queeny.
The event was protested by a group of university students who chanted “Drag queens are not for kids”, drawing national media attention. The protest was led by Wilson Gavin, a member of the Young Liberals, who had developed a public profile during the marriage equality campaign, where he argued against allowing same-sex marriage. The day after the library protest, Gavin died by suicide.
Shelton later posted a piece on his website that was critical of the event and the two drag performers. The post used what many would describe as crude terms to describe gender-affirming surgery.
The two performers brought a vilification complaint against Shelton, but in 2023 a tribunal found his comments did not meet the legal threshold for vilification. The two performers later lodged an appeal, which has now found that the original decision was flawed.
The case will now return to the tribunal with parties able to new submissions ahead of a fresh decision being made. The court has not ruled if Shelton’s posts constitute vilification, only that the tribunal applied the wrong legal test in accessing them.
This article reports on public statements and ongoing legal matters. Views expressed by quoted individuals do not reflect those of OUTinPerth, and allegations are reported as claims only.
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