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Loading ...Sydney moves to curb growing violence in gay village
08.25.2008 3:33pm EDT
(Sydney, Australia) Sydney city government is threatening to revoke the licenses of bars and clubs if their patrons are found guilty of attacking gays and lesbians in the gay village along Oxford Street.
Homophobic violence has escalated over the past year. In January, Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore complained twice in writing to NSW Police Minister David Campbell that police were not doing enough to stem the violence.In a six week period alone there were 22 reports of anti-gay violence in the area, one of the world’s largest LGBT communities.
Last December a gay couple was attacked leaving one of the men with a shattered jaw and broken leg. There have been no arrests.
Now Moore is proposing declaring the Oxford Street area a “homophobia-free zone.”
“At this point, the ball is with council staff to develop a proposal that will come back to council over the next few months, but it could involve stickers, badges, posters and T-shirts,” city councilor Phillip Black told the Sydney Morning Herald.
“We have to create awareness that homophobia is not acceptable,” he said.
But the plan is not without detractors.
Some residents of the area say it does not go far enough. They want an increased police presence on the street.
City councilor Shayne Mallard calls the plan silly.
“The young men who come in from outer suburbs to drink alcohol and assault gay people are not going to be deterred by a sticker in a window,” he told The Australian newspaper.
“Because they already have homophobic and violent tendencies, it’s more likely to be a provocation,” he said.
For Gods sake, surely homophobia should be banned nationwide, and just one street. What is the Australian central government doing about this, or is Rudd too frighten to provoke the wrath of the conservative Christians??
Sam, you’re spot on. Rudd is very aware of the Christian vote, as he is a very open semi-conservative Christian himself.
And the country is a homophobia-free zone, meaning that it is anti-gay violence is illegal. I think Lord Mayor Moore could have come up with a better term to describe her vision for a safer Oxford St area.
A year in chains, on a road gang cleaning up highways and streets (assuming they didn’t cause any serious physical harm), would give the haters and ignoranti a chance to repent to their society. Or maybe we could ship them to Saudi Arabia with their bibles, and there they would get a different view of religious hate, as the victims. Allahu Ahkbar!
SEE, American gays….. Other countries or cities outside of the USA are not necessarily any safer for gay men or straight men. I almost got set upon in Vancouver, BC in a not so good area, being tourist I found out later from a Vancouver native that I stayed in the worst part. I heard a man shout in his local Canadian accent, There’s the man with the money! I was carrying a brown envelope with directs to my gay B +B inside of it. It was nighttime and dark in what was for an unfamiliar city. I was terrified. I didn’t know if this was in jest or a call for his nearby buddies to rob me. I heard another comment addressed to me that same night by strangers like “Don’t you know that hot dogs are from America?” I am from the USA. I didn’t come to Canada to be addressed by the locals with such speech that I never encounter in DC. I said nothing both times. Maybe I should stay home in my own country. I’d rather have trouble on my own soil than have trouble away from home especially overseas.
The gays in Sydney need to start a pink posse protection where you have a gang of gays or lesbians who’ll protect the community. You need to learn how to punch back and beat up the homophobes.