QNews: New setback for Lyle Shelton in Drag Storytime vilification case
Michael Barnett OAM
New setback for Lyle Shelton in Drag Storytime vilification case
Lyle Shelton has suffered a loss in the Supreme Court of Queensland as he continues to fight a vilification complaint from two Brisbane drag performers.
Shelton, who is the national director of the Family First political party, is accused of vilifying drag performers Johnny Valkyrie and Dwayne Hill, who perform as Queeny and Diamond, back in 2020.
Shelton was posting on social media after a Drag Queen Story Time event organised by Rainbow Families Queensland that year. At the event, the two performers read the children’s picture book Love Makes a Family and supervised a family craft activity.
In his posts, Shelton made various claims, including that Valkyrie and Hill were “dangerous role models for children” and conflating them with “creeps like Harvey Weinstein, Jeffrey Epstein and Prince Andrew”.
In 2023, the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) dismissed the performers’ unlawful vilification complaint against Shelton over the posts.
The pair appealed, and in March this year, the Queensland Civil and Administrative Appeal Tribunal (QCATA) found the earlier ruling contained legal and factual errors.
Though the QCATA appeal process is ongoing, Shelton sought to challenge the finding in the Supreme Court of Queensland.
On Friday, a Supreme Court judge dismissed Shelton’s application, ruling the QCATA decision under challenge was not yet final. The judge ruled any Supreme Court review must wait until the established appeal process is completed.
‘Today was never going to be the end’
In a video posted to social media, Lyle Shelton brushed off the loss and made further claims about drag performers and drag storytime events.
“We received a judgment that went against us today. We actually lost,” he said.
“It means we’ve got to go back to the tribunal because a finding of vilification has not been made against me.
“Today was never going to be the end anyway, even if we had have won.”
In the video, Shelton went on to rail against the vilification complaint as “anti-free speech” and “strategic warfare” and once more attacked drag storytime as promoting “radical gender fluid ideology” and a “recruiting mechanism for your children”.
But the LGBTI Legal Service, who are supporting Valkyrie and Hill in the vilification case, have called out Shelton’s posts as unlawful hate speech.
LGBTI Legal Service Senior Solicitor Emma Bastable said Friday’s Supreme Court decision was “a clear and welcome outcome” for them.
“It means our clients’ matter goes back to where it belongs, the Tribunal, without the delay and expense of running parallel court proceedings,” Bastable said.
The community legal service’s President Ren Shike praised Valkyrie and Hill “for their bravery and tenacity over the past six years, as they continue to fight to ensure that LGBTQ+ people are protected from unlawful vilification.”
“We’re proud of the work our legal team has done over the past six years assist our clients in enforcing their rights. We look forward to the matter being resolved in the Tribunal,” Shike said.