Australian Christian Lobby books Geraldton venue for ‘The Truth of It’ Live

The Australian Christian Lobby event deemed inappropriate for the publicly owned Albany Entertainment Centre is coming to Geraldton’s Sun City Christian Centre next month. The latest east coast COVID-19 outbreak held up The Truth of It podcast’s nationwide tour, hosted by ACL managing director Martyn Iles. But, the church confirmed it would lease its function space to organisers. ACL was barred from hiring the State-owned venue in Albany on Ausgust 18 due to a hire policy that blocks content that fails to reflect the views of the “vast majority”. The religious group has been accused of “spreading hate” by gay and trans support groups. Related stories The conservative Christian leader was outraged and slammed the WA Government, comparing it to communist China. However, Culture and the Arts Minister David Templeman, who is responsible for the Perth Theatre Trust which manages the centre, said the decision was made by the Trust without his influence. “The Perth Theatre Trust has made the decision to deny a booking request in line with its venue hire policy,” he told The West Australian. “This decision was made independent of the minister, as is appropriate.” Mr Iles hosts the podcast, which aims to tackle “thorny issues” and “the truth of scripture” through a conservative Christian lens. Videos from previous events, posted on their website, show Mr Iles discusses LGBTQI+ issues at length, including describing a “tidal wave” of “transgender regretters” who will help the world “wake up” from modern gender-based ideology. The last time the ACL visited Geraldton, it drew just as many protesters as it did supporters. The event, criticised by some as supporting conversion therapy, was held at Geraldton Anglican Cathedral in June, with a counter-protest held in a neighbouring park. The next event, scheduled for the same date as the cancelled show, has just 243 RSVPs — far less than numbers pulled in Bunbury and Albany. ACL WA director Peter Abetz said he didn’t believe the event would cause any controversy in Geraldton. However, OutMidWest — a local LGBTQ+ community group — said they had concerns about the event. “(We) have recently been made aware of the (event),” the group said in a statement. “OutMidWest is currently preparing a public statement and plans to contact Sun City Church leadership expressing community concerns about the content of the event.”