‘Straight Lives Matter’ rally draws just 30 people, outnumbered by counter-protesters and police
(Photo by Brook Mitchell/Getty Images)
A “straight lives matter” rally in Sydney drew just 30 people and were outnumbered by police officers and counter-protest groups.
The controversial rally was held to support the “No” campaign in the postal survey on same-sex marriage in Australia.
Straight lives matter protest today pic.twitter.com/5iCp8VJbFb— ?кєℓℓιє ??? (@kelliekelly23) September 23, 2017
However, organisers Party For Freedom failed to draw supporters of “traditional marriage” as they had hoped.
The party wrote on Facebook that they were rallying to call for an end to the “sick and vile homosexual agenda”.
On their website, they declare same-sex marriage as a “fad”.
It reads: “Gay marriage is the latest fad pushed by the left-wing politicians, left-wing media, cashed up gay rights groups and social justice warriors under the modern perversion of ‘rights’ as a social justice movement.”
The party also declared LGBT+ rights as a “lifestyle” that poses a threat to children.
“The gay rights movement is based on compassion ignoring the dangers the lifestyle experiment may pose to children.”
Cat Clayton was one of the handfuls of people to attend the event.
Clayton was allegedly responsible for writing “vote no” in the Australian says.
From @SkyNewsAus on Twitter
She told the Australian that she plans to pull another similar stunt.
“We do have something happening, so keep your eyes on the skies. Any day in the next few, I hope.”
The event was held in Darlinghurst, which is a renowned gay area.
The choice of location was criticised by LGBRQ+ activists for being purposefully controversial.
Let the door knocking begin! pic.twitter.com/uh5rgqGBFS— Alex Greenwich MP (@AlexGreenwich) September 23, 2017
Rally organizer Nick Folkes said: “Some people have said it’s provocative. But we’re just exercising our democratic right to freedom of speech and freedom of location.”
About 50 counter-protesters demonstrated at the rally.
However, some marriage equality campaigners decided to focus on door knocking instead.
Alex Greenwich MP, who supports the Yes campaign, said that he would not “be distracted by the actions of 20 people”.
“It is so important for the marriage equality campaign that we do not get distracted by the people who are always trying to throw red herrings,” Greenwich added.
Protesters push for Parliamentary vote on marriage equality (Photo by Brook Mitchell/Getty Images)
The postal vote has been widely condemned by LGBT+ activists in Australia because it is not legally binding and will come at a huge expense of $122 million Australian dollars.
A lawsuit was launched in the High Court to try and stop the postal survey but it failed.
It comes after a lawmaker in the majority Liberal Party failed to pass a Parliamentary vote.
Lawmakers then attempted and failed to revive a plebiscite bill in the Senate.
Many feared that the postal vote would become a “hate speech bonanza” as the vote is being conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, rather than the Australian Electoral Commission.
This means that the vote is not subject to the Commonwealth Electoral Act’s prohibition on the use of any malicious or deceptive material.
Special Minister of State Mathias Cormann is putting forward legislation which will force the Bureau to abide by the Commonwealth Electoral Act, which prohibits the use of any malicious or deceptive material.
Labor’s legal affairs spokesman Mark Dreyfus said Labor’s may support the special law on the condition that they can view it prior to backing it.
Dreyfus said that it was “our inclination is to make sure that this is a respectful debate”.
