USyd’s Queer Action Collective (QuAC) held a speak-out outside Law Lawns on 25 May, in response to hundreds of Queer Honi copies being stolen, dumped and destroyed hours after distribution.
Co-Editor-in-Chief of Queer Honi, and Co-Convenor of QuAC, Yaz Andrews, opened the rally by explaining the situation that “saw hundreds of copies fly off the stands, not in celebration of the hard work that we did, but to silence queer students on campus.
“We see this first and foremost as an act of intimidation against queer students seeking to silence our voices here, and more importantly, they’re doing this in secrecy.”
Jamie Bridge, an editor of this year’s Queer Honi, said that “This wasn’t an isolated incident.” She spoke about the patterns of rising queerphobia and transphobia that are prevalent across the globe, not just on campus or in Sydney, which are distracting the public from real issues “of climate change, of war, and of wealth inequality under the current capitalist epoch.
“It’s the natural result of a sustained campaign, globally, of violence systematically, and moral panicking by the far right conservative forces in government and the media across the globe.”
NTEU member and previous Queer Honi contributor, Aiden Magro, emphasised the University’s lack of tangible support, from their experience as both a previous student and current casual staff member.
Magro said that any progress that has been made on campus, such as gender affirmation leave, has been “won by workers,” and that it is “the products of industrial action, not the University’s advocacy of queer workers.” Meanwhile, University management continue to harm the community by “inviting police onto campus to break up peaceful strikes in 2017, putting queer and black people in danger.”
Magro spoke about the hypocrisy of Provost Anna Marie Jagose climbing to the top of University management. “Queer unionists know you don’t fight bigotry and economics and social insecurity by climbing the corporate ladder like the Provost has. Or increasing job insecurity as you go like the Provost has. Or by wrapping yourself in a rainbow flag like the Provost has. And then pulling that ladder up behind yourself.”
Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) member and library staff member, Holly Eades expressed their disappointment in the acts of violence committed against Queer Honi. Eades said that, “Library staff are really upset that the removal of “Fagi Soit” took place in Fisher Library… We pride ourselves on being supportive of queer students and queer people, we have a queer ally group, we have queer collections, we celebrate queer events.”
Tim Duff, a student at the University, said that “when we speak to the defilement that has been committed against Queer Honi and queer people, we could speak to the front cover, to a queer body emblazoned on the front, with the symbolism and the history that represents not only our joy, but also survival, and also protest, and systemic violence.”
Eddie Stephenson, an activist involved with Community Action for Rainbow Rights (CARR) described the dumping of “Fagi Soit” as a way that homophobes and transphobes gain confidence and power to fight back when they feel threatened by “the wins that we’ve been able to score, fighting for things like marriage equality.”
Pointing out the recent honours changes within USyd, student Hannah Rose, as the final speaker, added that these changes target queer communities on campus. Rose said that, “In particular, Gender and Cultural Studies is the worst hit. So in a university that purports to care about queer issues, they are actively diminishing queer academia as we speak, and that’s disgusting, and I’m tired of it.”
If you have any tips regarding the destruction of Queer Honi, please contact QuAC or Honi. A complaint has been made to the University and the investigation is currently ongoing.
