Just three days after Daniel Andrews expressed doubts about whether it would be safe to hold an Australia Day Parade, the Victoria Premier announced a gay street party.

With Covid still circulating in the community, the government is taking a cautious approach to January 26 Australia Day celebrations.

So you might imagine that with monkeypox being declared a global emergency and circulating in a very specific community, the government might also take a cautious approach to Gay Pride gatherings.

Not so much.

Obfuscating

We are told that associating monkeypox with gay men risks creating stigma. This is despite the fact that 98% of cases have reportedly occurred in men who have sex with men.

An LBGTQ health advocate quoted last week by SBS said:

“The virus doesn’t discriminate… this virus could infect anyone.”

There have been almost 20,000 monkeypox cases worldwide, with around 19,600 of those contracted through gay sex. Yet the media are choosing to run with “this virus could infect anyone”.

Sure, the Andrews government told children to stay away from playgrounds to avoid catching Covid, but don’t even think about restricting gay events.

So while Australia Day festivities are still very much up in the air, a press release from the Premier’s office this week enthused:

The Andrews Labor Government is throwing a massive summer street party as part of a statewide celebration of our lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and gender diverse, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ+) communities.

Woohoo! Monkey-covid for everyone!

The double standard applied by the Labor government is breathtaking.

Remember when two elderly women sitting on a park bench during the Covid pandemic were surrounded by five Victorian police officers anxious to avert a super spreader event?

No such concerns with the worldwide monkeypox outbreak and a gay street party.

Everything is LGBTAOK in the Republic of Danistan.

No Concerns

The Premier said:

The street party will support the Government’s continued efforts to achieve equality for LGBTIQ+ Victorians, by breaking down the stigma and discrimination they continue to face and providing opportunities for rainbow communities to connect and celebrate who they are.

With the emphasis on “breaking down the stigma”, one could be forgiven for asking whether the gay pride event was being held because of, rather than in spite of the monkeypox.

Mr Andrews tweeted excitedly:

I’m not sure that Daniel Andrews inviting you to a gay party is all that appealing. But I digress.

So Equal

There is another double standard that will not be lost on long-suffering Victorians. Mr Andrews, who created “a vaccinated economy” where the unvaxxed were shut out of employment and commerce, says the gay street party will demonstrate that in Victoria “equality is non-negotiable”.

Don’t worry about dying from Covid, Victorians risk laughing themselves to death.

Tell perfectly healthy Victorians, still unable to work because of their vaccination status, that equality is non-negotiable in Dan Andrews’ Victoria. There’s also no debt and the sun always shines.

Will admission to the gay festival be restricted to those who have had the monkeypox vaccine?

Will LGBTQ+ revellers be forced to show their monkeypox vaccination status before being granted entry?

Of course not.

The Victorian Premier would never stigmatise anyone, I mean, aside from everyone who dares to exercise their own judgement about medical treatment for their own body.

It’s hard to see any equality at all in Victoria for having one’s vision blocked by very selective applications of the ALP’s version of equality that continually create division and discrimination.

Fortunately, there is a Victoria state election on November 26.

People — gay and straight — who value their liberty will be hoping to party that night, without Daniel Andrews.

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Originally published at The James Macpherson Report.

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