The UWA Student Guild strongly believes that campus should be a safe and inclusive environment for everyone, especially marginalised and underrepresented groups such as the LGBTQI+ community. We firmly support our Trans students and stand against the decision to allow the Australian Family Association to host Dr Quentin Van Meter on campus, whose message stands in direct opposition to the values of tolerance, acceptance, and inclusion that the Guild espouses. The presence of the Dr Van Meter on campus and his opinions on LGBT+ people, especially Trans people, is deeply hurtful and traumatising to our students who already feel particularly targeted by transphobic discourse in wider society.
The UWA Student Guild does not in any way endorse the message that the Australian Family Association or Dr Quentin Van Meter promotes, or this event. The Guild strongly believes that we should be promoting the voices and knowledge of Trans people on this issue, not the voices of those that amount to hate speech. University is place for discussion and independent thought, but it is not a platform for hate speech and the Guild does not tolerate hate speech in any form.
Support services:
If you want to talk to someone about this issue, please contact:
Guild Student Assist
UWA Counselling
Lifeline (24/7): 13 11 14
Q-Life (3pm-midnight): 1800 184 527
Media enquiries:
Megan Lee
Guild President
[email protected]
(08) 6488 2294
