In Sydney, a disturbing string of violent attacks against gay and bisexual youths has prompted alarm among authorities. A two-year investigation by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) found that since 2023, several young men were lured via dating apps to remote locations where they were attacked by other youths, forming groups inspired by the Islamic State. Some of the assaults were captured on video and circulated publicly.
In one documented case, a 16-year-old boy using the alias “James” was dragged to the ground by two attackers at Strathfield Park in Sydney’s Inner West and kicked repeatedly, while an accomplice filmed and hurled homophobic insults. The attackers ranged in age from 14 to 16. In other footage, another 16-year-old is shown being brutally assaulted, accompanied by slurs such as “faggot” and “kafir” (Arabic for infidels). In another clip, one attacker yells “Dawlatul Islam” (Arabic for Islamic State) as the 16-year-old victim is kicked to the ground.
The assailants used dating apps, including ones marketed toward teenagers, to gain their victims’ trust and lure them to secluded locations. After the arrest in the “James” case, chat logs indicated that there had been other attacks in the preceding months.
Light sentences for teenage offenders
Police investigations revealed links between some of the arrested youths and a radical extremist group that was also connected to the December 2025 Bondi Beach terrorist attack, in which two men shot and killed 15 people and injured nearly 40 during a Jewish celebration. There was also a connection to a Sydney-based prayer center that was closed following the Bondi attack.
Five teenagers have now been charged in connection with four filmed assaults. A 17-year-old was sentenced to at least six months in youth detention after taking part in multiple attacks, including the one on “James.” Three other alleged co-perpetrators received no prison time, while another case remains before the courts. In another proceeding, they are charged with possessing extremist materials.
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Experts told ABC and other media covering the case that extremism as a motive had not been given adequate weight in reporting. This concern is underscored by another case in which a suspected multiple offender allegedly tackled a 20-year-old man in an underpass, repeatedly stomping on his head; last year the suspect, then a minor, pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery and received only nine months of probation with no conviction recorded. The victim sustained severe facial injuries and long-term health consequences. That attack also had IS connections.
Documents obtained by ABC show that since 2023, at least 64 people in New South Wales and Victoria have been charged in connection with such dating-app attacks, though the true number is likely higher. Many victims have not been identified or have remained silent for fear of public exposure. Attacks have also been reported in ACT, Queensland, and Western Australia. LGBTQIA+ organizations and civil rights groups criticized the lenient sentences and called for tougher action against anti-gay hate violence, as well as the establishment of comprehensive hate-crime laws that Australia-wide currently lacks.
In Focus (Not Only) Among Islamists
Queer people have repeatedly been targeted by alleged followers of the Islamic State, such as in the Orlando nightclub shooting of 2016 and the Oslo attacks in 2022. The deadly assault on a gay couple in Dresden in 2024 also appeared to have IS ties, while in Europe and the United States several planned assaults on Pride events or concerts were prevented by early arrests and investigations. About a decade ago, the ISIS group released photographs claiming the execution of allegedly gay men in areas they controlled in Syria and Iraq.
Using the tactic of luring gay youths via dating apps, beating them, kicking them, and filming the humiliating treatment, was first highlighted in 2013 when Russian neo-Nazis drew headlines (TheColu.mn reported). The leader of the misnamed “Occupy Pedophilia” movement, Maxim Martsinkevich, took his own life in prison in 2020 (TheColu.mn reported). In recent years, similar assaults in Germany and Austria within a so-called “Pedo-Hunter” scene have also made headlines (TheColu.mn reported).
