Kevin Rudd’s Godson Sean Foster
“There is no doubt that there has been some ugliness as part of this debate but I regret to say that nearly all of it seems to be coming from one side and that is the people who tell us that love is love.”
That’s former prime minister and prominent campaigner for the No to marriage equality movement Tony Abbott, after a clumsy do-si-do with a Yes badge-wearing anarchist ended in Abbott taking a headbutt to the mouth. No matter that the anarchist in question has made it very clear his desire to “nut the cunt” had nothing to do with the marriage equality debate, Abbott is not the only No campaigner to argue the only thing spoiling our respectful debate is actually all those dreadful Yes campaigners using nasty words like bigot.
Australian Christian Lobby spokesman Lyle Shelton has complained of “bullying and vilification” at the hands of Yes campaigners, and Karina Okotel kicked off her address to the National Press Council on September 13 with examples of “vitriolic abuse” she and other opponents of marriage equality had received.
However, in the interest of balance, Crikey thought it would be worth cataloguing some like-for-like ugliness since the postal plebiscite was announced, to see if Abbott, Shelton and Okotel are right. Is it really violence committed by, and behalf of, LGBTI Australians that has stained life in Australia in the weeks since the postal vote took centre stage?
August 27
Eight cars parked outside a suburban theatre presenting Holding the Man, a gay love story based on the memoirs of actor Tim Conigrave, have their tyres slashed. Prior to the performance, posters for the performance had been routinely pulled down.
September 13
Another former prime minister, Kevin Rudd, tweets a picture of his 19-year-0ld godson, Sean Foster, with a lipstick-red gash splitting his forehead, smearing down past his eyes onto his cheek. Foster had been punched in the face after calling a man he saw tearing down rainbow posters in east Brisbane a homophobe.
September 25
Tasmanian police charge a 32-year-old Taroona man with common assault over an alleged attack on trans 16-year-old Thalia Black in Elizabeth Mall, Hobart, on September 22.
A neo-Nazi group known as Antipodean Resistance plasters homophobic posters that feature images of Adolf Hitler and swastikas at the University of Tasmania. The act was quickly condemned by university staff.
September 26
Brisbane woman Olivia Williams reports that her house — currently adorned in rainbow flags — has been pelted with rocks, breaking a window, and that a man had yelled homophobic slurs from her garden. There are reports of swastikas drawn on the rainbow flags that supporters had erected on their lawns, and phrases like “Vote no! to fags”and “faggots not welcome” on Sydney trains.
September 27
News Corp Australia’s Claire Sutherland claims a man, shouting homophobic slurs, attacked her dog, who, at the time, was wearing a pro-marriage equality scarf.
This plebiscite was always going to result in crazy from both sides.
“On many sides… on many sides”
Don’t mention menage a trois, ou plus -that’s the slippery slopey stuff, so beloved of Borey Carnadi, Tastie & Tones.
Maybe Mike – but one side has justice and truth on its side, the other has unfairness and lies in great measure.
I think “nut the cunt” will be the gem in this campaign that lingers happily for years and years in our memories, long after equality is done and dusted, and working as it should.
Yep “nut the cunt” will be remembered (not least because I know the “alleged perpetrator” in question). He’ll dine out on that incident forever.
Loved that guy! Surely one of the best confessional interviews, just for its barefaced honesty.
While guess we shouldn’t condone violence, recall vividly some of the stuff Abbott and his mates through at Gillard. “Nut the cunt” pales in comparison, and well – so cheekily worthy of legendary status, eh?
Take it as read, for every incident from the ‘yes’ campaigners that are massively exposed in the MSM, 5 or 6 worse incidents from the ‘no’ campaign will be swept under the carpet.
For every screaming claim from the ‘no’ camp that they are being silenced, assume 10 times that for shouting down and belittling those from the ‘yes’ camp who are ‘foisting their political correctness onto us’.
Has News Corp Australia’s Claire Sutherland asked her editor (who may or may not be Andrew Bolt) where he was at the time of the attack?
Blaming the other side (with conviction) is US conservative politics 101, even if it requires alternative, fake, or misconstrued facts to do so. Their insistence on same press coverage also means they cut through a bit better.
Also really sad thing to realise about Abbott is that his only “morality” is about political winning, and always ensuring he is on the negative side helps – destructive is often more successful than constructive.
Successful opposition leader, poor PM; just wish the gen public would finally wake up to this. Doubt that he has a gram of christian integrity in his soul.
Not to mention the trin carrisges covered in Swastikas and giant NOs.