Non-binary activist and fierce defender of the trans community Deni Todorovič torched Liberal MP Moira Deeming for attending an anti-trans rally in the most beautiful and emotive takedown I’ve seen on Q+A in a while.
During the episode, Liberal Party President Greg Mirabella was asked by an audience member if the controversy around Deeming was potentially responsible for the Lib’s shock loss of its Aston seat.
ABC host Stan Grant redirected the question to Todorovič, who took it as an opportunity to discuss the rampant and alarmingly increasing queerphobic attacks that have been plaguing our society in recent months.
Raquel asks “ Do you think that recent publicity around Moira Deeming’s ultraconservative views had any bearing on the loss of the seat of Aston over the weekend?” #QandA pic.twitter.com/LnkVQ4hoR7
— QandA (@QandA) April 3, 2023
“I got attacked six times verbally in Brunswick, which is, like, super queer,” Todorovič said, noting all these instances happened on the same day while being on a phone call with their publicist.
One of the attacks involved someone rolling down the window of their car and shouting the F-slur, while Todorovič recalled that another man asked them “What’s between your legs?” as his girlfriend started filming.
“This is one microaggression that’s actually not very micro at all,” Todorovič said.
“And then you start to compartmentalise: ‘Who am I? Why am I here? I don’t feel safe’.”
Thank you Deni for putting into words what the last few weeks has made all of us trans folk too exhausted to say ourselves #qanda
— Thembo Awareness Council (@esquirolls) April 3, 2023
“What happened at the steps of parliament with Posie Parker was like something out of The Handmaid’s Tale,” Todorovič continued.
“Trans people aged 14 to 25 are 15 times more likely to take their lives. So, with all due respect, if someone from the government, from the Liberal Party, is going to come and stand next to Posie, I don’t care what Moira’s excuse was — whether you knew the neo-Nazis were going to be there or not — you shouldn’t be there.
“Because by being there, you are by proxy approving an anti-trans rhetoric of which is literally Posie’s MO. If you go on her website it says ‘This is the year of the TERF’. So it’s giving ‘Make America Great Again’, ‘Let’s kill trans kids’, which is actually not funny at all.
“Moira should have been expelled and I think she got off way too easily,” they said.
How can we combat transphobia and increase understanding of diverse gender identities in society? #QandA pic.twitter.com/Vd9BC6as9t
— QandA (@QandA) April 3, 2023
Mirabella then tried to defend Deeming and claimed that if she’d known the full context she might not have attended the rally. However, Todorovič was quick to jump in and remind him “but she did” attend it.
Exactly! You can’t sit here and debate what that woman may have been thinking when her actions speak loud and clear.
Mirabella then said he knew Moira Deeming and claimed that first and foremost, she cares about women.
“Trans women are women,” Todorovič interrupted, which Mirabella refused to comment on. Very telling indeed.
“She fights for women’s rights, she fights for children’s rights, and when you know a bit about Moira’s background, you’d understand why,” Mirabella insisted.
He said if Deeming had asked for his advice, he would have told her she shouldn’t have attended the rally. (Again, but she didn’t ask!)
“Her biggest mistake I think on the day was when she told me when she saw the police cordon let the neo-Nazis through, she should have disengaged at that point,” he said.
At this point, Deni Todorovič appeared visibly hurt and frustrated, a pain I could feel through the screen. How dehumanising it must feel to have to argue with these walnut-brained people who clearly have no interest in your perspective.
“I’m not an abomination to women, I’m simply asking for a seat at the table” – DENI TODOROVIČ #QandA
— Claudia Forsberg (@ClaudiasEyes) April 3, 2023
“She shouldn’t have been there,” they reiterated.
“Sorry, I’m not trying to be rude, if I can give you some context on what the last six months of my community’s lives have been — of which by the way is an intergenerational trauma that started in Stonewall in the 70s in Chelsea by a Black trans woman named Marsha P. Johnson — that is how long we’ve been fighting to prove that we are human.
“To have the audacity to even show up… Stay in bed and watch Rage, doll. Like seriously, stay at home.
“Because by you showing up, by defending her… If she believes in children’s rights, women’s rights — well then trans women are women, and trans children are 15 times more likely to kill themselves, doll you should have been there hurling abuse at Posie rather than letting the police roll on by and pepper spray trans kids.”
Honestly, I can’t imagine what it is like having to sit in front of an audience and repeat yourself like a broken record, constantly having to explain that it’s not cool for someone to support the poster child of the anti-trans, and therefore anti-you, movement. How fkn hurtful it must be to beg for your humanity.
Deni Todorovič, if you read this, we appreciate you, and you’re doing the lord’s work.
You can watch their full discussion on ABC.
If you’d like to talk about the issues raised in this story, you can call the QLife LGBTI
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