Hobart City Councillor Jax Ewin has failed to persuade Hobart City Council to cancel a public forum, Gender Identity in Law, being held at the Hobart Town Hall on 28 August.
Cr Ewin’s latest attempt to prevent people from speaking about the impacts of gender identity laws was publicly shared on Facebook on 12 July:
“Very unimpressed to see @cityofhobarttas platforming exclusive and hateful views of TERFs. Goes against all our community and safety strategies, as well as our Community Vision document. Let’s see what if anything can be done about it. Thanks Helen Burnet for being an amazing ally”.
‘We are aware that Cr Ewin has attempted to interfere with the proposed forum. Following Cr Ewin’s post, Hobart City Council received a number of formal complaints about the forum, some of which have cited the possibility of hate speech being disseminated. There have been requests for Council to no-platform the speakers at this forum’, said Coalition for Biological Reality organiser, Stassja Frei .
‘Cr Ewin’s ongoing defamatory and unsubstantiated attacks against highly regarded citizens and public figures continue to bring the Council’s name into disrepute. In addition, Cr Ewin’s disrespectful conduct arguably breaches Hobart City Councillors’ Code of Conduct’.
‘Speaker Pauley Johnson is a transgender person and all other speakers work in professions that require a strong commitment to ethical conduct and compliance with numerous laws and internal regulations’.
The Coalition for Biological Reality and Women Speak Tasmania are pleased that the Hobart City Council has refused to bow to political pressure, from an ideologically driven minority, to cancel a public forum of national significance being held at the Hobart Town Hall’, said Stassja Frei.
Isla MacGregor of Women Speak Tasmania has submitted a number of questions on notice for Cr Ewin to address in this evening’s Open Council Meeting.
-ENDS-