Victoria’s first out transgender councillor Tosh-Jake Finnigan has claimed expelled Liberal MP Moira Deeming and Liberal MP Renee Heath did not “harbour some deep underlying hatred for transgender people”.
In February 2023, Tosh-Jake Finnigan made history as Victoria’s first out transgender elected official after they were named Colac Otway Shire’s newest councillor.
Finnigan met Deeming, Heath and other conservative Liberal MPs, including Bev McArthur, Rikki-Lee Tyrrell, Nick McGowan and Joe McCracken in Parliament last week.
Deeming was expelled from the Liberal party over her participation in an anti-trans rally organised by Kellie Jay-Keen aka Posie Parker, which was attended by neo-Nazis. Heath, who has links to a conservative anti-gay church, was stood down as Liberal Party secretary following disputes over the minutes she took down of the meeting in which Deeming was suspended in March 2023.
Deeming has initiated defamation proceedings against Pesutto for allegedly accusing her of being a “Nazi sympathiser” and bullying and threatening her in a party meeting.
Moira Deeming Posts Photo Oe Meeting With Trans Councillor
Finnigan slammed the Liberal Party and Opposition leader John Pesutto saying the treatment meted out to Deeming and Heath was an “indictment of the direction of the Liberal Party in Victoria”.
Deeming posted a photo of the meeting with Finnigan, who responded with a comment saying that they would have been expected to denounce both Deeming and Heath for their views.
“Obviously we have disagreements on issues of policy, but it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be able to sit down and listen to each other’s concerns and see if there isn’t common ground and a middle path to be charted,” said Finnigan.
The councillor insisted that the portrayal of Deeming, who has a history of making anti-trans comments, and Heath as transphobic was not true.
“The reality is all that the current political standard operating procedure of screaming at and demonising those who even mildly disagree with us achieves is further division, pushing opposite sides of arguments even further to the left and the right.”
Trans Councillor Slams Liberal Party
“If I were to believe the narrative surrounding the beliefs of yourself and Renee, I would be expected to denounce both of you as horrific transphobes and homophobes, but the reality is that after sitting down to discuss our differences in opinion and to understand why each of us hold these opinions, it’s clear as day to me that neither of you are evil, malicious, or nasty, nor do either of you harbour some deep underlying hatred for transgender people,” Finnigan said.
“That both yourself and Renee have been treated so poorly and denounced as terrible people by the leadership of your own party is an indictment of the direction of the Liberal Party in Victoria.”
Finnigan then slammed the Victorian Liberal Party leadership. “If Messrs John Pesutto, David Southwick, Georgie Crozier MP, and Matt Bach MP actually concerned with your alleged hatred towards transgender people rather than just seeking to shore up their numbers in the party room, perhaps they would have spoken to the only transgender elected official in Victoria to see what the party could do to address the issue, but instead, the very MPs they have decried as transphobic and homophobic were the ones to reach out and sit down to see what we can do to bring people together.”