Hundreds of copies of Queer Honi stolen in apparent queerphobic attack
Almost 200 copies of the edition, labelled Fagi Soit, were retrieved from a bin at Fisher Library, on Tuesday with hundreds more copies found in bins across campus found on Wednesday.
Copies of an autonomous edition of Honi Soit, produced by the Queer Action Collective (QuAC), were stolen from stands across campus on Tuesday, just hours after being delivered.
The papers were stolen from stands at the Holme Building, Fisher Library, New Law Annex, Carslaw Learning Hub, the Manning Building and from outside the Jane Foss Russel building, with these stands completely emptied. Honi estimates that this amounts to almost one thousand copies stolen, just shy of half of the paper’s print run.
Almost 200 copies of Queer Honi were retrieved from a bin at Fisher Library on Tuesday evening, with other copies likely destroyed. More copies, numbering hundreds, have been found in campus bins on Wednesday.
Honi understands that two male-presenting individuals were responsible for taking the copies from the Holme Building, who were captured on CCTV filming their theft on a mobile phone.
The absence of papers on USyd stands was noticed by approximately 5 p.m. on Tuesday night, by members of QuAC and Editors of Queer Honi. The edition had been delivered to all stands across campus by 3:45 pm.
On Wednesday morning, hundreds of copies were seen being thrown into bins by three men outside Laneway cafe and outside the Jane Foss Russel building.
With the paper’s masthead being “Fagi Soit” and featuring a cover image of a trans woman’s torso tattooed with slurs, the theft is, in Honi’s view, a targeted attack against queer expression.
Co-Editor-in-Chief of Queer Honi, and Co-Convenor of QuAC, Yaz Andrews, said, “while working on this edition, we often talked about reclamation — the way queer folks take back the language used to harm us and build up space to express ourselves. I believe that whoever took and disposed of hundreds of copies did so to intimidate queer students on campus.
“This is a clear act of censorship done to punish us for our bodies and forms of expression.”
They noted that “the previous edition of this paper garnered a motion to [the Students’ Representative] Council for its so-called “pornographic content.”
Fagi Soit is available online, with copies available on some remaining stands on campus.
Submit an anonymous tip to Honi Soit here.