Tuesday 22 January 2013

This sign is "offensive"?

Here it is:

Turns out Parramatta council in western Sydney thinks it is:
Parramatta's Lord Mayor is facing a social media backlash after a gay and lesbian youth group invited to a council family fun day was asked to remove its ‘‘offensive’’ signage.

Council staff told the group that a banner promoting its "support services for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, same-sex attracted and gender-diverse young people, their families and communities" was inappropriate at last week's Rediscover the River festival, its acting managing director, Terence Humphreys, said.

Fearing "a potentially toxic environment", Twenty10 – which had been invited by council to set up a kite-making stall – decided to pack up and leave instead.

Twenty10 apologised on Facebook to those who may have noticed its absence, but said it could not support an event if the sign displaying ‘‘who we are and the services we provide’’ had been ‘‘deemed to contain offensive language’’.

"We had school-aged clients there, volunteers and staff who were very distressed by the incident," Mr Humphreys told Fairfax Media.

"It sends a really horrible message to the people of Parramatta that it wasn't OK to be same-sex attracted, gender diverse in a family event like the Rediscover the River."

Council has been inundated with complaints as news of the January 17 incident has spread. Read more
WTF?The article goes on citing one of the council members saying that the sign was "semi-political". Again, WTF?

How the hell is providing support service information to vulnerable groups in danger of depression and suicide in any way political, other than in the minds of the Parramatta council members? They weren't there to push some political agenda FFS, simply to provide information to people it was relevant to. 

And how the hell is a sign like that "inappropriate" at a "family fun day"? Is the inference to LGBT youth that they're not actually in a family? Or being gay means you're not allowed at a family event?

A petition has been started and appears to be taking off. It states:
Parramatta City Council recently asked Twenty10 to remove their banner at a community event on the grounds that it contained 'offensive language'. The banner was simply offering support for the LGBT community, and provided a URL to find out more information. LGBT youth need to know that there is help out there for when they need it. This is 2013, surely we're beyond the point of stifling basic human rights and the freedom to express individuality. sign
You can sign it here.

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