Penny Wong caused a stir with a seemingly harmless post on social media on Easter Sunday.
The Foreign Minister shared an image of the transgender flag with blue, purple and white stripes on Sunday to mark the International Transgender Day of Visibility, observed on March 31.
“The Albanese Labor government supports trans and gender diverse people across Australia,” the caption read.
“In this #TDOV, we celebrate your strength and your courage, and we recommit to defending diverse gender rights in the pursuit of equality.”
However, the comments made on the post were flooded with people questioning the timing.
This despite Senator Wong wishing her 115,000 Instagram followers a “happy Easter” several hours earlier.
‘Easter Sunday?’ one person wrote.
“Every day this is obscenely disrespectful and sacrilegious.”
Penny Wong (pictured) has caused a stir with a seemingly harmless post on social media.
The Foreign Minister shared an image of the transgender flag with blue, purple and white stripes on Sunday to mark International Transgender Day of Visibility (pictured)
Before posting about Transgender Day of Visibility, Penny Wong shared a Happy Easter post
Another accused Senator Wong of “blasphemy.”
“Shame on you, penny,” they wrote.
‘You want tolerance and respect but you can’t do it to Christians on one of the holiest days on our calendar? I rebuke you in the name of Jesus.’
In Christian scriptures, Easter Sunday was the day of Jesus’ resurrection after being sacrificed on the cross.
Transgender Day of Visibility is not intentionally designed to fall on Easter Sunday. It has been celebrated on the same date, March 31, for years. The date of Holy Week changes every year.
Holy Week falls on the first Sunday after the full moon after the spring equinox, between March 22 and April 25. Last year it fell on April 9 and in 2022 it was April 17.
But the comments below the post were flooded with people questioning the timing of the post.
However, not all comments were negative.
“I love that all the so-called Christians get angry,” one commenter wrote.
‘At a time when they are supposed to show love for everyone. Don’t they understand that Easter can still be celebrated at the same time?
Senator Wong’s previous post, ‘Happy Easter’, was inundated with criticism, but for a different reason.
This time, commentators were criticizing the Labor government’s position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
However, not all comments were negative.
Similar comments were also made in the Transgender Day of Visibility post.
“This trans person really doesn’t care about your empty words when your actions have shown that you care very little about humanity,” one wrote.
Another said: “I’m trans and I think you’re a cowardly genocidal enabler.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s Easter message issued earlier on Sunday was explicitly Christian in its theme.
“Happy Easter in Australia,” the Prime Minister said in a recorded video.
‘Easter is a time of hope and renewal. For Christians here and around the world it is a time to reflect on the Resurrection.
“Celebrations and services across the country remind us of the importance of forgiveness, grace and kindness toward those in need, qualities that are a big part of the compassion and virtue of this, the greatest country in the world.”
Senator Wong, 55, has long been an outspoken supporter of LGBTQ+ causes.
He broke down in tears when Australians voted to legalize same-sex marriage in 2017.
Earlier this month he married his long-term partner, Sophie Allouache, in a quiet ceremony in his home state of South Australia.
The couple share two young daughters, Alexandra, 11, and Hannah, eight.