“I always thought after gay marriage…there is no need for a Pride flag.” Sky News host Peta Credlin declared on Friday.

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The Sky News host made her assertion that there was no longer any need the Pride flag on her Friday afternoon program during a discussion with social commentator Prue McSween.

“It is now a fact in law there is absolutely no barrier to gay and lesbian people.” Credlin said.

The comments came at the end of a discussion about Melbourne’s Yarra City Council who, according to Credlin, want to fly five Pride flags alongside the Aboriginal flag, and the Torres Strait Islander flag.

“Maybe the old Australian flag might get a look in there, but who knows?” Credlin said. “Five Pride flags, goodness me.”

While the political staffer turned TV host was claiming the Melbourne inner-city council wanted to fly five Pride flags simultaneously, edging out the Australian flag. What the council is actually considering, is using a variety of Pride flags throughout the year.

The council will look at a proposal to use some of the variations on the original rainbow design that was created by Gilbert Baker in 1970’s. These include the Pride Progressive Flag that incorporates black and brown stripes symbolising the Black Lives Matter movement, and elements of the transgender pride flag.

The council is also considering using the Intersex Inclusive Pride flag that incorporates the yellow background and purple circle. The proposal also recommends flying flags such as the Lesbian flag on Lesbian Visibility Day. A suitable flag would be flown on days including International Day Against Homophobia, or during Melbourne’s Midsumma Festival.

Despite Credlin’s claims, there has not been a proposal to fly five Pride related flags simultaneously.

The Yarra City Council covers the inner eastern and northern suburbs in Melbourne including Fitzroy, Collingwood, Richmond and Carlton North. The area has a large LGBTIQA+ population.

Unlike in Western Australia where local councilors representatives of political parties, the nine-member Yarra Council is primarily made of councilors aligned with The Greens. The council is made up of five Greens representatives, two Independent Socialists, and an additional councilors who identify as independent.

It’s not the first time Peta Credlin has struggled with the numbers on an LGBTIQA+ related issue. Back in 2019 she claimed that “one in seven” male inmates in the Victoria prison system were now claiming to be transgender.

“I read a report the other day… that one in seven prisoners, male prisoners, are now identifying as a female, to get access to a different prison obviously, and there are concerns about putting biological men – with no sort of treatment, who just identify as women, inside a female prison population.” Credlin said during the discussion with Victoria’s Shadow Health Minister Georgie Crozier.

The claim would have mean that 14 per cent of the people in Victoria’s male prisons were transgender, which at the time would have equated to around 1,095 inmates. Prison officials told OUTinPerth that a more accurate number would be around 8-12 individuals.

Graeme Watson

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