A homosexual Lebanese immigrant Melbourne mayoral candidate has promised to make religious holidays celebrated by Hindus, Muslims and Jews just as prominent as Christmas if elected.
City of Melbourne councillor Jamal Hakim, who runs a consultancy firm that provides “diversity development and innovation” services, describes himself as a “queer migrant” and wants taxpayers to fork out $10 million to hold festivals for Diwali, Eid and Hanukkah.
The aspiring Lord Mayor told the Herald Sun he had committed to providing the funds if elected in October, and said he wanted the three non-Christian festivals to be “as big as Christmas”.
Mr Hakim said that while Christmas was “great” it was “now saturated” and he wanted a fully multicultural calendar.
“As Lord Mayor I’m going to advocate heavily for a state public holiday for Diwali, Eid and Hanukkah because it’s time to recognise our multicultural community,” he said.
“We need to create a space where we can all celebrate together, as these groups do with us on Christmas which is very important.
“We want to build stronger ties between communities and this is what that does.”
He said in a social media post that he also intended to “strengthen” other multicultural festivals, including Lunar New Year and some celebrated by African immigrant groups.
In July he posted on social media in support of hijab-wearing Afghan immigrant senator Fatima Payman, who left the Labor Party after being disciplined for voting against the party on recognising a Palestinian state.
“Senator Fatima Payman has acted with integrity – standing up for the majority of members and the public who believe in action for peace in the Middle East,” he wrote.
“Saying that you support a two state solution without recognising a second state is like trying to say you support helping ordinary Australians while giving large corporations the largest tax benefits.”
Mr Hakim was first elected to council in 2020, has served on the board of the homosexual Midsumma Festival, and was chair of the finance risk and audit committee for the Australasian Society for HIV, Viral Hepatitis and Sexual Health Medicine.
In 2022 he wrote an opinion piece for the Canberra Times calling for homosexual men to be allowed to donate blood.
