A hate-crime inquiry in Victoria, Australia hears that gay and bisexual international students and other men are being targeted through gay dating apps, then assaulted and extorted with threats they will be “outed” in their home countries. Thorne Harbour Health, an LGBTQ+ support service, tells the inquiry that men from countries where homosexuality is illegal are lured into meetings before being attacked.
According to evidence presented to the inquiry, police have identified 95 attacks targeting gay or bisexual men in Victoria since June 2024. The police activity linked to these incidents has resulted in 42 arrests, as described by Chad Hughes, chief executive of Thorne Harbour Health, during the Wednesday hearing.
The accounts cited across outlets describe a pattern in which attackers use dating apps to identify victims, then use the threat of exposing their sexuality to coerce payments or compliance after assaults. The inquiry focuses on the broader nature of hate crimes and the measures needed to address this targeting in Victoria.
