A hate crime inquiry in Victoria has heard that international students from countries where homosexuality is criminalised have been targeted on gay dating apps before being assaulted, filmed and threatened with being outed.
Police in Victoria, Australia, have identified 95 attacks on gay or bisexual men since June 2024.
Chad Hughes, chief executive of Thorne Harbour Health, told the inquiry that 42 arrests had been made in relation to the attacks.
However, Hughes said he believed the “true number” of victims was much higher, with many people reluctant to come forward because of mistrust of police.
Jenna Tuke, from Switchboard Victoria, said some victims were scared they could be outed to family members in their home countries and had been extorted.
“We’ve heard a lot of stories of people who’ve been … contacted after the offence and asked to deposit tens of thousands of dollars in an account ‘otherwise, this video will be shared with everyone in your contacts,’” Tuke said.
“We’ve certainly seen a pattern of overseas students being targeted in countries where … homosexuality is illegal.”
Tuke added that the “family implications for those people are absolutely massive”.
According to Tuke, one person who contacted Switchboard Victoria said they had been given until 10pm to pay a blackmailer, who threatened to tell the victim’s family about their sexuality.
“We’re hearing those types of stories quite frequently,” she said.
“It does appear that they may be targeting people who they think are not ‘out’, and for whom the kind of consequences of being outed as gay or queer will be greater.”
“It was just pure hatred”
While the cases differ, many share similar details.
Victims are invited to meet in a public place, but are then physically attacked, filmed and, in some cases, extorted.
At a recent community meeting, Hughes said 12 men shared that they had been victims of similar attacks, but only two had reported them to police. One of those later “regretted that”.
“The attacks are deliberate and humiliating,” Hughes said.
“The victims are forced to recite slurs on camera and footage is shared online to give the perpetrators status with their target audiences: others in the manosphere.”
Some of the alleged attackers are reportedly as young as 13, with victims specifically targeted because of their perceived sexuality.
One witness told the inquiry that he had been speaking to someone on an app for about a month before agreeing to meet in a public place in August 2024.
He was then attacked by two teenagers.
“They turned up to a park with a knife bigger than any of you have in your kitchen and held it to me … it was just pure hatred,” he said.
The man said he felt there had not been “any justice”, as one teenager was found guilty without a conviction being recorded, while the other was never charged.
He said the pair were only arrested because there had been three other attacks “on the same street in broad daylight once again”.
The evidence has highlighted the particular vulnerability of international students and closeted queer people, especially those whose safety, visa status, family relationships or futures could be threatened by being outed.
For LGBTQIA+ advocates, the inquiry is a crucial step in understanding not only the scale of the violence, but also the online cultures, platforms and extremist influences helping fuel it.
