The Latrobe City Council has passed a motion opposing transphobia and transmisogyny after a councillor published of series of posts labelled as "reprehensible" and "harmful" to the transgender community.
At a council meeting on Monday night, Councillor Tracie Lund proposed a motion of support for the LGBTIQA+ community.
"I raise this notice of motion acknowledging my daughter, who has been so disturbed by the rise of anti-trans and anti-gender diverse [sentiment] in the state and even in our own city," Councillor Lund said.
"She came to me feeling powerless at the discrimination and targeting she was witnessing with the question: 'What can we do about this Mum?'"
Councillor's anti-trans tweets
The council's motion of support follows a protest against transgender rights on the steps of the Victorian parliament.
But locally, the ABC can reveal in April that Councillor Melissa Ferguson used a personal Twitter profile to tweet articles and posts that were critical of transgender rights activists.
"Predators are hiding behind the rainbow and using it as a shield to prey on children," said one tweet that Councillor Ferguson retweeted.
In a later tweet, Councillor Ferguson said she was engaging with social issues to learn the community's views.
"Through respectful discussion, it has been brought to my attention that my tweets related to current affairs around the issue could be a targeted attack on dividing [the] community," she wrote.
"That is certainly not my intent.
"I'm just another person on Twitter discussing current relevant issues."
Condemnation of tweets
The first openly lesbian member of the Victorian Parliament and upper house member, Harriet Shing, said the tweets contained misinformation about vulnerable people.
"Anybody who permits or engages in an exchange that compares LGBTIQ people to sex offenders should be aware of the very real damage they are causing to members of our community," she said.
The Gippsland Pride Initiative also condemned the tweets in a statement published on Facebook.
"Recent comments made by an elected Latrobe City Council representative are reprehensible, harmful, hatefully ignorant and worse still, factually incorrect," the statement said.
A spokesperson for the council said the matter was being taken seriously and had been discussed with Councillor Ferguson.
"Latrobe City Council is aware of recent allegations regarding inappropriate comments made by one of our councillors and their use of social media," the spokesperson said.
"As elected representatives, councillors understand they are held to a high standard of conduct both in their public and private lives."
Public support 'worth it'
Councillor Ferguson abstained from voting on the motion on Monday. She has been contacted for comment.
The council's chief executive Steve Piasente has clarified that the motion of support is a reassurance to the trans and gender-diverse community and does not bind the council to future decisions.
"[It is in] support for trans and gender-diverse people and opposition to transphobia and transmisogyny … which doesn't change the way we deliver services," he said.
Co-lead of the Rainbow Local Government campaign Sean Mulcahy says while it is easy to dismiss the council's motion as "virtue signalling", elected officials publicly making supportive comments is important.
"I've been working with councils across the state to fly the rainbow flag and sometimes I question what impact we're having," he said.
"But when you see a young person come along to a council event where the flag is flown, and to see the joy on their face, and the sense of happiness that they're being included, then I think it's all worth it."
