Lyle Shelton Loses Again In Drag Story Time Vilification Case
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Conservative commentator and aspiring politician Lyle Shelton has faced another set back in his years long vilification case against two drag performers.
The former ACL director fronted the Supreme court this week in the ongoing case that saw vilification claims against him after he called two drag performers 鈥渄angerous role models for children鈥� among other things.
This time the Supreme Court of Queensland has dismissed an application for judicial review brought by Lyle Shelton.
Lyle Shelton Vilification case continues
It has now been nearly seven years since Johnny Valkyrie and Dwayne Hill, who perform under the names Queeny and Diamond launched their David and Goliath discrimination case against Lyle Shelton over his comments.
And Shelton has fought the pair every step of the way through the court system.
On top of calling them 鈥渄angerous role models for children鈥� Shelton also likened them to prominent sex offenders such as Harvey Weinstein and Jeffrey Epstein over their Drag Queen Story Time event organised by Rainbow Families Queensland. Shelton subsequently published a series of blog posts about the pair which became the subject of the proceedings.
In the years since the pair have been in and out of court with Shelton as they continue to fight.
Most recently in March they won an appeal against Shelton after a previous ruling dismissing a vilification complaint against him was overturned.
Proceedings were initially聽聽in 2023 when the Tribunal ruled the complaint against Shelton did not amount to unlawful vilification, but Valkyrie and Hill made a last-minute decision to appeal the ruling.
The Queensland Civil and Administrative Appeal Tribunal found the earlier decision was fundamentally flawed and affected by significant legal and factual errors.
This week the Supreme Court of Queensland has dismissed an application for judicial review against the QCAT decision.
The LGBTI Legal service who represent Valkyrie and Hill said in a statement “Mr Shelton sought to challenge QCATA’s decision in the Supreme Court. In a decision delivered today, Justice Smith found that the QCATA decision under challenge was not yet final, and that the matter should proceed through the established QCAT appeal process before any Supreme Court review.”
The court also confirmed the “no win, no fee” financial supported offered by the LGBTI Legal Service to their clients was valid.
Emma Bastable, Senior Solicitor at LGBTI Legal Service welcomed the decision stating:
鈥淭his is a clear and welcome outcome. It means our clients鈥� matter goes back to where it belongs, the Tribunal, without the delay and expense of running parallel court proceedings. The Court鈥檚 findings on costs agreements are also significant. They confirm that people without financial means can still get proper legal representation and have their case heard, which is exactly why community legal centres like ours exist.鈥�
Ren Shike, President of LGBTI Legal Service affirmed the importance of access to legal representation for everyone in matters such as these.
鈥淐ases like this show why specialist legal services matter. Our clients came to us because they couldn鈥檛 otherwise afford legal representation to have their discrimination and vilification cases heard. Today鈥檚 decision protects their ability to have these matters properly determined. We鈥檙e proud of the work our legal team has done over the past six years assist our clients in enforcing their rights, and we look forward to the matter being resolved in the Tribunal.鈥�
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Taking to social media Lyle Shelton posted a video stating that “unfortunately, we lost” in the Supreme court and continuing to make controversial statements about the performers.
“It means we’ve got to go back to the tribunal, because a finding of vilification has not been made against me” he said.
“Today was never going to be the end anyway” he continued.
“Even if we had of won they’re engaged in strategic warfare against me to ensure that freedom of speech to critique radical gender fluid ideology and LGBTQIA+ sexual expressionism being presented to children, this is lawfare to try and stop that criticism, that’s what’s at stake here.
“They want to keep drag queen story time alive as a recruiting mechanism for your children.”
The case continues and is expected to return to the Queensland Civil and Administrative Appeal Tribunal in the near future.
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