Bangays Way to stay
A road named Bangays Way that was hit with accusations of “homophobia” will not be changed.
The road in a newly developed part of Borough Green, Kent, was named after local historian Frank Bangay, but a gay couple who came to view a house in the area felt that the addition of an “s” at the end made it homophobic.
They told the Telegraph: “Having got over the initial humour, we reflected that this street name was actually pretty offensive.
“Somehow seeing it on the sign made it look even worse. We are pretty sure the sign will be subject to frequent vandalism and possible theft.
Despite the couple gaining support from their local MP, Tom Tugendhat, the road name will remain in place.
Council solicitor Adrian Stanfield told the Sevenoaks Chronicle: “Paragraph 5.3 of the council’s street naming and numbering policy requires that any change to a street name will require a minimum of two thirds support from the local residents for any change as this can be very disruptive and cause individuals to have to change all of their personal address details.”
Frank Bangay’s daughter, Marian Smith, said: “We are all very proud of our surname and both of my parents were very prominent in the village for many, many years and did so much for the village.”
A hairdressers in Wales recently put up a sign to ban homophobes from their premises.
